Virtual Giving Planned Giving Websites

Personal Comments, Ruminations, Complaints

We had too many to list all... but below are a few randomly selected responses to the last question on our survey:

Question 52: What did we miss? What questions should have been clearer or more detailed? What else would you like to know about your colleagues, personally and professionally? This block will take up to 2,000 words. Go!

All comments have been kept intact in their original form other than a few typographic fixes. Some of the comments below will not make sense unless you know the questions (or have taken the survey). So here's a PDF (in a pop-up window). Better yet, take the survey and then come back to this page!

Comments in red are those of the editors (that's us at VirtualGiving: Viken Mikaelian & John Foster). Please take our comments with the sense of humor in which we wrote them. Also remember... we placed a few "silly questions" in our survey to keep it light. You will see what we mean from some of the references to "politics, beer and sports."

There's some serious stuff embedded here, so sit back and read these through.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Your Peers' Personal Comments (Question 52):

1. If you're just scratching the surface of planned gift fundraising, what was the best and most important step you took in the past year? How would you categorize your best advice: policy/procedural, staffing, Board/CEO involvement, personal initiative? What training, if any, helped the most? How do you consistently schedule personal meetings? What venue seems the best - lunch, dinner, meetings at your office?
2. I would like to know what factors prevent my colleagues from spending the necessary time on planned giving. I suspect that many of us are under the gun to bring in immediate dollars this year which keeps us hopping in annual fund, events and grants.
3. How many think that the web will play a major role in the future and to what degree?
4. Too often, we are asked to spend an inordinate time to look at the gifts that we know are too good to be true, but we have to go through the process of "evaluating" them before saying no. There is no good shortcut, but it would be interesting to test ethics by seeing whether some people might accept any gift, even if there are risks involved, as long as the gift can count in the quota.
5. Do you think it's as important to market bequests as life income gifts?
6. You neglected to ask how we could improve the number of our prospect calls. My answer is that my strength lies in developing relationships but because I do not have an assistant, I spend way too much time on clerical trivia.
7. Just a couple of comments: Most gift planning officers are professionally lazy. They not only do not do enough research about the world around them, they do not integrate gift and estate planning into a single view. We really need an MBA program that focuses on professionalism, as well as building relationships. It is not all about back slapping, nor is it about being a technocrat. It is a combination of art, care for family and friends and a passion for "doing the right things," even if it takes longer. Major and planned gifts are synonymous and NCPG's look at counting should be embraced by CASE and other such organizations. Thanks for letting me pontificate.
8. Sometimes it appears the art of planned giving is lost in the instrumentation of planned giving. Women, in particular, want to know what their gifts will do not just the mechanics of how it works.
9. Have you had enough training to be an effective fundraiser?
10. I would like to know how long my colleagues have been in the development field, how long they have been at their current position (regardless of how many organizations), and how long they have been at their current organization.
11. How many meetings does it take to close a planned gift? What about timeline? How often are you surprised by the types of donors that make planned gifts? What does a planned gift prospect look like? How often do you bring up estate planning vs. the prospective donor? How much technical knowledge do you feel is necessary to be effective...and what would you consider most important? How does your organization share donors across constituencies? [Next survey! - Editor.]
12. I would like to see more figures under $1M in annual budgets. I think there are more of us than you think. Fundraising is different when you have under $10M in assets. I wish more programs and conferences were aimed at the above figures.
13. I would like to know... For higher education, how helpful are the faculty in fundraising? Also, how much internal marketing is necessary for planned giving?
14. None of the answers on #37 worked for me....I do not drink alcohol and I am lazy, so Tai Chi is out. ;-)
15. Question 37. None of the above. I'd rather eat a brownie and gulp down a huge glass of milk. Call me strange?!?!?! [No, just excessively normal. - Editor]
16. How is your fundraising effort organized: a. Integrated into major/annual gifts efforts b. Integrated into campaign as endowment builder c. Functions on its own without connection to other fundraising efforts d. Who claimed it was organized?
17. Which would you rather take a prospective donor to? a. Lakers Game b. Hollywood Bowl c. Rock Concert d. Burning Man 55. What do you think your donors would rather do with you a. Lakers Game b. Hollywood Bowl c. Rock Concert d. Burning Man [Jeez... for those of you not familiar... Google this. - Editor] e. Who says I should hang out with my donors on my free time?
18. Interesting survey, have an idea where you’re going but feel that PG is a contact sport. We need to be more like sales and relationship management types. Trained, able to talk the talk and walk the walk and let the backroom take care of the technicals. I can do both but prefer the sales. Bequest is the real $. A PG is only an accelerated bequest. Thanks for asking. But like the IBM commercial ...get out and do it, stop talking! Got to go ...have a new prospect to see.
19. What is the "normal" relationship between Major Gift officers and planned giving officers? How do Development Departments handle the inherent conflict between Major Gift goals and planned giving goals? Do planned giving officers ever ask for a specific dollar amount, as Major Gift officers are required to do? What factor is the average Major Gift to planned gift amount given by a donor? In other words, if a major gift donor gives $10,000 per year, what would they typically give for a planned gift? Do we even know the answer, due to major gifts driving the donor relations business??? What are the two most important qualities in a successful planned giving professional? Are more planned gifts purely accidental and due to passive marketing and good will or is donor cultivation the most important factor? What is the most successful planned giving campaign ever? Has any institution ever held a planned giving-only campaign? If not, why not? Have increased estate tax exemption levels, soon to be $3m per individual, had an impact on planned giving?
20. If the 60's and 70's generation are narcissists, how does a planned giving officer reach those prospective donors?
    
21. Really a tough job working with veterans. I need to get back to university fund raising!
22. I think what you missed is who you are and why we should trust you. I decided to trust you because you must know I'm involved in AFP or NCPG and I want to add to the profession when asked. [Thanks for trusting us. But we did make it clear from the get-go who we are: www.plannedgiving.com. - Editor]
23. For some questions I wish I could have explained my answers a bit better. Of course now I don't remember them [except for the drink question...vodka tonic was not an option ;-) ] so you might consider a comment box for a few of the trickier ones, or one comment box per page. As for planned giving, I am in an atmosphere where bequests are very much appreciated when they "mature", but no one but me seems to connect current treatment/donor relations with that outcome. My boss says things like "Oh, we need someone else to go hold hands with little old ladies". Even though I try to educate everyone I meet about fundraising (less used car salesman, more active listener) I still get the cocktail party poison/shrink away from me in horror when I tell people what I do for a living.
24. Keep the silliness out of the survey! [Hey, it’s our survey – we can be as silly as we want.- Editor.]
25. What about tobacco? I smoke a pipe occasionally. And in addition to a nice French Rhone, I indulge occasionally in a single malt scotch (a staple of good Presbyterians). I'd like to know about supporting organizations that market planning giving. Is there too much duplication of effort?
26. Some of your questions should have a "not applicable" or a "do not know" option. Without it, you force an answer that is erroneous or made up thus skewing your results. Other things you might ask include how involved in community activities such as civic organizations, chambers of commerce, volunteer activities, local government.
    If you were a member of a rock band, what instrument would you play?
27. Go back to producing direct mail advertising with curse words. This survey was less than interesting, as were my responses unless you can tell which were honestly made and those made up. Amazing that a marketer would misbrand himself at launch. Good luck in your next career. [Perhaps we're missing something? Thanks for answering all the questions, though. - Editor.]
28. Your survey assumes every organization is eligible for IRA gifts. In fact, as a supporting organization, our Medical Center Foundation cannot legally accept such gifts. We are not alone in that unfortunate situation. Although my responses may seem to betray ignorance or neglect of that opportunity, it ain't so. Your survey did not give "ineligible" as a choice.
29. Now you're pushing me for time! No, seriously I'd have to think about that. Right off, I can't think of anything. Your survey made me think, reflect and laugh! Good job!
30. You didn't ask if I preferred a couch or loveseat, how many children I have and many other questions. But this is classic Viken and Sam. [We wish this had not been anonymous! Thanks anyway. - Editor.]
31. 52a) Is the office dress code casual or professional? Suits and ties or khakis and shirts? 53) Does anyone do pooled income funds anymore? 54) How many people are in your Planned Giving Society? 55) What was your largest "surprise" bequest? The mega-donation from the individual who faithfully gave your organization $35/year? 56) Do you make your bed each morning?
32. Ask about the stress between current and deferred gifts and the organization's willingness to really invest in the long-term. Ask whether or not the CEO and the board "get" planned giving and are really supporting it. Ask about frustrations — board and management structures not aligned with mission, vision and goals; ambiguous corporate relationships; development colleagues who don't get the importance of personal relationships with their donors and just seek the dollars, etc. I'm curious how many shops practice donor-centered development. I'd guess it is very few. How many listen to their donors vs. how many are just trying to meet annual dollar and visit goals? Is there a way to test my hypothesis that truly donor-centered development is the most successful? How many planned giving officers help cross-train major and annual gift officers in the concepts of planned giving? I'm curious how many PGOs seek research-based reports to help guide their marketing and prospecting decisions. I'm curious why Viken spells his name like he does and why he's so irreverent and off-the-wall funny. How did he and Sam ever develop a partnership? Why do folks on the coasts think they know it all? Don't they realize they'd fall off if the Midwest wasn't there? Why only 2000 characters in this box? [Easy on the coffee, please. - Editor.]
33. Bit of a planned giving bias. Should I expect a raft of marketing calls from PG concerns after hitting "submit"? Please say "no". [We did say at the beginning there was a planned giving bias, no? - Editor.]
34. My board is: (a) stupid (b) useless (c) stupid and useless (d) consuming excess oxygen. How much control/influence do you believe you have on outcomes in your job?
35. There are at times institutional things thrown into the development office that take away from the focus of real development work including implementation of a stronger planned giving program. What effective solutions have colleagues implemented to get the boss to really get it?
36. How do you define planned gifts at your institution? (We define planned gifts as "deferred gifts". Although most of the Charitable IRA rollovers or realized bequests take the time and effort of a planned giving officer those gifts don't count in "our" totals.) Are you in a fundraising campaign? What is the dollar goal of your campaign? What percentage of the campaign is planned giving expected to contribute? Have you recently completed a campaign? What percentage of the final campaign goal were planned gifts? Does your institution have an incentive bonus pay if you exceed your stated goals for the year? How many (or what dollar amount) of the realized bequests that your institution received this year were already previously documented and you were fairly certain your institution would receive? How many (or what dollar amount) realized bequests did your institution receive this past year that were a surprise and you had no idea were coming to your institution? What is the dollar amount of realized bequests you received last year? Do you offer Charitable Gift Annuities? Do you think that all asks for major gifts (however your institution defines that) ought to also include a deferred gift portion? Are you drowning in paperwork and nobody seems to care? Thanks.
37. How often do people change jobs within the profession and are they happy when they do so? What is life like as a planned giving consultant?
38. Love the survey! Can't wait to see the results! You should ask more specific questions about which organizations are willing to invest in planned giving and how much. I would love to see how much money other organizations are investing in this kind of fundraising. I think the statistics would be very compelling. My employer does not invest in planned giving or even fundraising staff, yet enjoys the $100,000+ gifts that come in randomly from planned giving efforts 20+ years ago. I would also encourage you to ask about staff education provided by the employer. My employer does not choose to help further the professional education of the staff and believes that 2 fundraisers are sufficient to raise revenue.
39. Survey does not really apply to my work as a consultant to various nonprofits. I tried to answer from the perspective of the work I do for one of my clients.
40. Ask: Marital State. Children. Level of education.
41. I am totally allied to the concept of "gift planning." I have problems with an emphasis on "planned giving" which highlights tools and techniques for "deferred giving." I see the picture, particularly in my work with professional advisors, to use multiple approaches for the best fit in a prospect/donor gift plan. Therefore, I would prefer to see an emphasis in this survey on the planning of gifts including major, special, ultimate or principal and planned.
42. Too many planned giving questions. If that was your goal, it should have been stated upfront. If you wanted to know about "who we are" as fundraisers, there should have been more questions relating to that topic. Anyway, enjoy the answers.
43. Questionnaire not really suited to volunteer leader of PG efforts working in volunteer driven (and staffed) fundraising organization.
44. Height? Years with current organization? Attend NCPG annually? Planned giving's role in current or upcoming campaign? What is the dollar value of your organization's planned giving pipeline? Not including your current employer, how many non-profits do you assist by volunteering your planned giving expertise?
45. Ask if respondents have a Graduate Degree: Mine is in Business Administration. This should help you interpret the responses to salaries and background questions better. Otherwise, it was the right length and entertaining to complete. Thank you! P.S. Looking forward to a bottle of wine for the Holidays!
46. Our development office is only three years old. Our organization is supported (25% of a half billion $ budget) by a 5 billion dollar trust established by the founder.