How to Begin the Gift Planning Conversation

Regardless of your area of expertise, if you are raising money for a nonprofit, knowing how to start the conversation about gift planning is essential. Building a pipeline of planned gifts brings significant value to your organization. Nonprofits with successful programs tell me that realized planned gifts may amount to 10%, 15% (and one charity tells me even 50%) of an organization’s annual budget.

Because starting the planned giving conversation can be daunting, I’ve asked a seasoned planned giving officer, Chuck Knox, to share with me ways to naturally bring planned gifts into a donor conversation. Even if you have years of experience in gift planning, I think Chuck’s ideas are an excellent refresher on how easy it can be to talk about gift planning concepts with supporters (especially consistent annual givers):

For couples/surviving spouses with children – Ask them to add up how much their estate is worth. Then, if the plan is to “give it all to family,” ask whether or not it would be wise to give that much (divided among the number children) in a “lump sum.” Chuck says very often he learns that there is at least one child who uses money “creatively.” Framing questions in this manner opens the conversation to providing income to children through a charitable remainder unitrust (as opposed to a lump sum) and leaving the balance to charity.

For seniors/persons with appreciated assets – Ask whether they are happy with their current income. You might ask how much income they are currently receiving from their CDs, stocks or money market fund. In many cases, seniors own assets that are only producing 1%-2%. Ask if they would be willing to give up the asset to increase their income to 7%, 8% or 9% annually. This opens the conversation to the benefits of a charitable gift annuity which provides fixed income at a rate based on the donor’s age, possible tax-free income and a gift to charity.

Visit my blog next week for more ideas on how to talk with your supporters about making a planned gift. If you want to start a planned giving program for your organization, please email me at kristen@cresmail.com for a free training.