Giving USA 2014 Report Highlights

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The Giving USA 2014 report Highlights provides an overview of key 2013 data. The Giving 
USA 2014 report Highlights is instantly downloadable.

Some of the highlights:

Who gives the $335.17 billion in 2013?

72%   Individuals
15%    Foundations
  8%    Bequests
  5%    Corporations

I wonder if we should have our fundraising plans shaped to spend 72% of our time with individual donors?

The dead still out pace corporations in giving.

Planned Giving Fundraisers MUST Stop Living On The Tip Of The Iceberg

From Greg Warner Marketing Planned Giving blog ...

In Fraser Green’s book titled Iceberg Philanthropy he points out how planned giving fundraisers get tricked into thinking that what they see (the tip of the iceberg) is what truly exists.

Here’s what I mean:

1. Most organizations’ planned giving staff will not see (and/or cultivate relationships with) the entire group of people capable of making a legacy gift. That includes their entire database plus anyone else that might support their mission. Rather, most PG Officers are probably only seriously talking to way less than 300 people each year.

2. Those 300 people usually have special circumstances that require the PG Officers’ expertise. But everyone else does not. This is why so many gifts drop in unexpectedly. Face it, the vast majority of your planned gifts will come from people who never involved your organization’s staff in the decision-making process.

3. So, if most planned giving fundraisers only see the 300 that need help, then they are only seeing the tip of the iceberg. And that group is NOT analogous with the other 90% of your bequest donors.

If you want to attain more legacy gifts, stop living on the tip of the iceberg. Look for the commonalities in the 90% instead. Then find ways to satisfy their needs. That usually means you should market simple bequests, bequests, bequests.

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Click for for more information by  Greg Warner

Posted on his blog: May 21, 2014

Estate and Gift Planning, Tip # 9

Check out "The Ultimate Quick Reference Planned Giving Pocket Guide" by PlannedGiving.com .

It is the best overview guide with "elevator pitches" included.  They have variations on this guide for volunteers, board members, and professional advisers.

A nice tool to give every gift planner you know!

I do also like their "When, how, and why to plan a gift." one page chart on the major gift strategies.

Again this is a tool.  Tools have to fit donors needs and goals. Not the other way around.

Estate and Gift Planning, Tip #8

I am continually amazed at the number of small business owners have NOT done succession planning or implementing a succession plan to their children to take over the business.

Ask every business owner you know if they have children in the business if they have done succession planning.

Tell them about how a Charitable Lead Trust as a possible way their favorite charity might be able to help them do this.

Most states have a will laid out in law about how estate are handled.  Make them aware of how an intestate estate works in your area.

Here is what Michigan has in mind for your estate if you do not have a will or a trust. http://1.usa.gov/PXnVPh

Turing Myths into Gifts

Greg Lassonde, www.greglassonde.com, is demystifying legacy giving to make it accessible to all including our staff and volunteers making legacy gift solicitations.

He defines then breaks 10 paradigms of "old school" planned giving and prefers the focus to be "legacy giving". His reshaping of the estate giving allows for many to be involved in the process and volunteers comfortable in asking for these kinds of gifts.

Check out his white paper of Legacy Giving - Click here

Estate and Gift Planning, Tip #7

The Planned Giving Design Center is one of the best on-line resources and newsletters for the issues, topics, and concerns for gift planning. Sign up for their e-newsletter today. http://www.pgdc.com/ 

Estate and Gift Planning, Tip #6

This might seem very basic.

I had the good fortune in the first week of my professional philanthropy career to literally sit at the feet of the master. I attended a Hank Rosso Fundraising School session in Minneapolis where I had the good fortune of speaking with him directly over the coarse of a week workshop.

Hank's advice was always, "The first gift to any campaign is yours."  Americans in their DNA know if someone has "put their money where their mouth is." So yours is the first gift to any appeal that you make including estate and planned giving.

Yours is the first planned gift to your organization in your new post.

Go through the estate planning process first before you go out and talk with people so that you know what they will go through.  Plan your planned gift to your organization.  Either a bequest or beneficiary designation works fine.

Then you can look people in the eye and say that you have already have done this kind of gift.

peace+

Estate and Gift Planning, Tip #5

MarketSmart.com are creators of marketing tools for all kinds of fundraising.  They put out insightful white papers and presentations on a variety of fundraising topics.

In the Planned Giving area, their download "Inside the Mind of a Planned Giving Donor" using Russell James's research is insightful.

Check it out at:

http://imarketsmart.com/russelljames/

Estate and Gift Planning, Tip #4

Jeff Wolf from the National Church Residences recommends the following books for start up gift planners:

My “go to” expert on planned giving recommends the following:

Robert Sharpe’s book:  Planned Giving Simplified: The Gift, The Giver, and the Gift Planner  (AFP/Wiley Fund Development Series)

Many people like Debra Ashton’s book The Complete Guide to Planned Giving.  It is probably more technical.

For real technical stuff, Planned Giving: A Guide to Fundraising and Philanthropy, by Katelyn Quynn and  Ronald Jordan

Estate and Gift Planning, Tip #3

Writing about this kind of giving need not be complicated. Here is a short piece on my parish's website talking about estate giving.

http://www.gracetraversecity.org/serve/stewardship/estate-giving/

I posted it on the parish's Facebook page and put it out on my Twitter feed.