Planned Giving: It's a Culture, Not a Program
By James Gold
Health care organizations who wish to build a planned giving program often make a huge misstep when they begin, prompting initial thoughts and questions such as: “Hey, I need a brochure. Who should I talk to about a website?” Or, “Some of our board members think we need to ask for planned gifts. Let’s do a mailing.”
Taking this Band-Aid approach isn’t how to build a program. Rather, it’s about building a culture—one that requires a team effort where all members of the philanthropy team are involved, from the back office to the front line. Yet, many organizations view starting a planned giving program as an effort only a subject matter expert can handle. Although there is some truth to this regarding specific aspects of sophisticated planned giving methods/vehicles, it’s far from the overall truth.
…it’s about building a culture—one that requires a team effort where all members of the philanthropy team are involved, from the back office to the front line.
Here are four common misconceptions about starting a planned giving program and how organizations can shift their focus toward building a culture of planned giving that will yield long-lasting results:
Misconception 1: Planned giving operates in a silo.
Successful planned giving programs seamlessly integrate into an organization’s broader relationship-based philanthropic initiatives, holistically elevating all relationship-based giving programs. Organizations should, therefore, invest in the education of their frontline philanthropy officers on the advantages planned giving provides both donors and the organization for annual, major and deferred gifts. As you can imagine, many small to midsize organizations lack internal expertise and financial resources. Therefore, it’s essential to provide philanthropy officers with a basic working knowledge of planned giving, so they can better identify and navigate opportunities for all donors regardless of gift potential. The biggest hurdle for philanthropy officers is their own personal lack of confidence around the subject when talking with donors. Too often they put the cart before the horse and feel they first need to know everything there is to know about planned giving, which is nearly impossible. Operating in a silo actually stifles planned giving and, as a result, does not help donors. Investing in frontline philanthropy staff draws on the old adage to “teach a man to fish.”
The biggest hurdle for philanthropy officers is their own personal lack of confidence around the subject when talking with donors. Too often they put the cart before the horse and feel they first need to know everything there is to know about planned giving, which is nearly impossible.
Misconception 2: Legacy societies motivate planned gifts.
Establishing a legacy society with the hope that donors will be self-motivated to make a gift just doesn’t work. Recognizing a donor’s name in the company of others often fails to inspire or motivate giving. In fact, this could be a turn-off to some donors, causing them to remain anonymous. Many donors choose to make planned gifts to organizations they have supported for years—ones they wish to align with their own personal morals and values. Legacy societies should have an abundance of past and current boards of directors or trustees and community volunteers. Philanthropy leaders who can recruit a volunteer leader who can eloquently express and share their own personal testimonial as to why they’ve made a planned gift will inspire and lead others to do the same. If your own volunteer leaders won’t make a planned gift, why should others?
Misconception 3: It’s expensive to begin a planned giving program.
A big misconception is the belief that a substantial budget is necessary to launch planned giving efforts. However, planned gifts can be cultivated and secured without the need for extensive financial resources or staff time. Organizations can employ creative strategies to promote planned giving within existing budgets. By highlighting donor stories in newsletters, leveraging social media platforms and incorporating planned giving messaging into existing communications, organizations can effectively raise awareness and generate interest in planned giving opportunities as well as build a robust culture from within the organization. In essence, planned giving, when personalized to the average donor, will help donors join others who share the same passion for the organization. Most organizations already have their planned giving prospects in their database, and a basic understanding of the ideal planned giving profile can surface opportunities immediately and cost-effectively. Single donors who have been giving for over 20 years could be sitting on a million-dollar bequest, or might even consider one if asked.
Misconception 4: Hiring a planned giving vendor is essential to get started.
Often, organizations immediately resort to hiring a marketing vendor for planned giving initiatives without first assessing their internal capacity to administer and acknowledge gifts. It’s imperative for organizations to establish gift acceptance and endowment policies to determine their criteria for accepting planned gifts and to create an organizational culture around planned giving. This includes setting up protocols for handling, acknowledging and documenting non-cash gifts—such as qualified charitable distributions, donor-advised funds and stock gifts—each of which may require distinct recognition compared to cash gifts. Additionally, organizations should diligently record non-cash gifts in their donor databases to maintain accurate and up-to-date donor information.
Ultimately, planned giving is not a program; it’s an approach that stems from a culture and attitude of transformative philanthropy, where planned giving is one of many strategies and focuses on collaboration with philanthropy teams and leadership volunteers.
About the Author: James Gold is a Principal Consultant with Accordant, specializing in planned giving, program assessments and campaign readiness. You can reach him at James@AccordantHealth.com or through LinkedIn.
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