Sources: NCPG, Social Welfare Research Institute (Boston College), National Philanthropic Trust, The Planned Giving Company and our own research.

Notes:

• Most deferred gifts are made by those who do not benefit from estate tax deductions.
• Although 69% of planned giving donors make a high gift of $1,000 or more to the annual fund of the organizations they eventually benefit, only 6% of them are wealth-ranked.
• Your best prospects are not necessarily your wealthiest donors, but your most loyal donors.
• The highest predictor of a donor's propensity to make a planned gift is institutional loyalty, not how much money they have.
• Households that use planned giving vehicles are reporting a higher rate of participation in charitable giving, as well as higher average contributions to charity than households that are not engaged in planned giving.

Notes:

• The age at which people begin financial planning for themselves and their families is becoming lower every year -- let the option of planned giving be known to your constituencies upfront. While 69% of donors change their will, only 25% change a gift in their will.

  Ages	Bequests	CRTs
  18-34	3%	6%
  35-44	14%	10%
  45-54	26%	18%
  55-64	22%	20%
  65-74	20%	23%
  75+	15%	24%
  Mean	58	62

Notes:

• Seniors are getting "younger" – the first baby boomer turned 60 in 2006.
• 40% of all U.S. adults over the age of 50 – including 24% of those over 65 – use a computer at home.
• 70% of seniors who own a computer, 14 million North Americans age 50+, use the Internet on a regular basis.
• 65% of the Americans age 55+ who are online use the Internet for research and investing.
• Seniors are 27% more inclined to invest online than their younger counterparts. Majority have invested online at least once over the last year.
• Internet users over age 50 are highly educated, affluent when compared to the general population, and purchase more in dollar amount online than younger surfers: 75% have a college-level education. 45% earn over $75,000 a year. 50% have investment portfolios worth over $100,000.
• These figures could be higher for your constituency.

Notes:

• Not all planned gifts are deferred. Some provide current cash.
• The real reason cash is in such short supply in many institutions is that they have little or no endowment. Planned gifts build endowment.
• By limiting yourself to immediate gifts, you are excluding a vast constituency of prospects who may be likely to give by leaving a gift in their will.
• If you are scrambling to raise cash today, it's because your organization did not pursue planned gifts 5-10 years ago.
• Planned Giving = Proactive Planning

Notes:

• The typical capital gift target is 20 times a donor's largest annual fund gift.
• The typical PG target is 200 times a donor's largest annual fund gift.
• Your planned giving pool may be as much as 5 times larger than your capital pool.
• Donors find they can become more generous with non-cash gifts because of additional tax benefits.

Notes:

• In the world of planned giving, the chicken does come before the egg. If you are delaying making a commitment to better marketing because your organization does not yet have a formal planned giving "program," you are missing donors who are making gift decisions today.
• Your organization can accept appreciated assets, bequests and life insurance today, with no special arrangements with your business office required.
• Administering life-income gifts is more complex, but gift annuities can be re-insured or placed with professionals who can assume the task of sending checks and tax statements.
• So let your prospects know that you’re open for business – or watch the best gifts keep going elsewhere.

Notes:

• Even a simple, unattended program can raise significant funds.
• You already know more people ready to help you with leads, advice and professional services than you realize. Networking is key.
• Within the next 15 years, over 6 trillion dollars will be passed from one generation to the next. By not incorporating planned giving, you will be leaving gifts on the table - or forfeiting them to another charity.

Notes:

• Many planned-gift donors were unrated prospects before they set up their gift plans, and most were never rated major gift prospects.
• Planned giving donors are the "millionaires-next-door" in your constituency, flying under the radar of your prospect-identification systems.
• Planned giving donors often give because of the financial benefits they can secure, or as part of their estate planning. They have different motivations in their charity from those of major-gift donors putting their name on big projects at your organization.
• And, a planned gift structured into the overall commitment of a true major-gift donor can often increase that donor's total gift.

Notes:

• Capital campaigns focus on 5% or less of the donor base - the major donor prospects.
• Major gifts donor pool and deferred gifts donor pool are not the same

Notes:

• The other four reasons...
1. Compassion for those in need
2. They personally believe in the cause
3. They are affected by the cause
4. To give back to their community

Notes:

• Sorry, but to most civilians planned giving is boring.
• Who wants to read about mortality and estate planning after a busy day?
• A city-dweller is inundated with over 3500 messages a day.
• A well kept secret: use compelling postcards (over 95% readership rate) that are designed from a marketing perspective – not from a fundraiser's perspective. (see samples and understand our reasons)
• Your enemy is an overstuffed mailbox
• Months to mail: February-May and September are the best months to mail; OK months, January, August, October; the worst months are June and July. For a good balance, send six to ten marketing postcards per year.

Notes:

• In 1999, this was a great idea. Times have changed.
• Your e-newsletters and planned giving e-cards will not get read for the same reasons your newsletters won't.
• Many e-marketing pieces get spammed out.
• Even if your prospect has opted-in to hear from you, they will soon ignore your emails.
• You can easily alienate your prospects with mass emails and e-marketing (read this article and related pages)

Notes:

• The best way to drive traffic to your website is through:
• Compelling marketing
• Strategically placed, creative links
• Display advertisements
• Networking
• We can help you with it all.

Some fundraisers feel:

• Calculators get very little use.
• Donors who use them end up finalizing their gift plans without talking to you.
• Donors often choose the wrong gift plan to calculate.
• Calculators cover standard life-income arrangements but do not cover a detailed gift illustration including IRAs, Life Insurance, etc.
• What if donors calculate a high payout rate and become disappointed when your organization can't offer it?
• Get an online calculator with a "secret" URL you can send to entrusted prospects.

Notes:

• Unfortunately, some vendors are claiming that their planned giving websites close gifts. They don't.
• The fact is, you close the gift. People give to people, not organizations.
• Read what Dr. Edward M. Halowell of Harvard writes about "The Human Moment" and why it applies to planned giving.

From Handshakes to HTML:
New Technology, Same Old People

Not much has changed in planned giving other than the way we contact prospects.

* 12 valuable marketing tips you should not miss.