eMarketer of the Year On Pace for $10 Million in Planned Gifts!

Crescendo awarded Bill Yaeger, Director of Planned Giving for the Citadel Foundation, the eMarketer of the Year award at the 2011 Practical Planned Giving Conference (PPGC) in San Diego. What is the secret to Bill’s success? Since launching Citadel’s GiftLegacy 3.0 website, Bill has seen a marked increase in planned giving activity. The Citadel Foundation is on pace for $10 million in planned gifts this year!

Bill explained to me how the GiftLegacy program has helped Citadel multiply planned gifts to become a significant share of annual revenue. “I started exploring the Crescendo services in more detail while I was the interim Planned Giving Director in 2008 – 2009,” said Bill. “I realized at that time that we were not making use of all their services and to the extent that we could. Since then, and especially since I was named Director at the beginning of 2010, we have begun using them more and more.”

The Citadel Foundation upgraded its website to GiftLegacy 3.0 in January of 2010. Take a look at their custom branded website http://www.citadelgiftplanning.org which features rotating images of the campus and cadets, a Mission Video and an online Wills Planner. Bill sends out a weekly eNewsletter to alumni and uses GiftLegacy print pieces including brochures and the Wills Guide to market his planned giving website.

Here are some numbers that illustrate the growth in Citadel’s planned giving program since it implemented GiftLegacy:

· From 2008 to 2009, Citadel experienced a 49% increase in the dollar amount of Planned Gifts.
· From 2009 to 2010, Citadel saw a 136% increase in the number of Planned Gifts.
· Since the beginning of 2008, Citadel has recorded $33,994,000 in Planned Gifts, most from a living alumni base of only 27,000 people.
· And again, this year, Citadel is on pace for at least $10 million in Planned Gifts!

With the tremendous growth in planned gifts, Citadel plans to expand its planned giving department and bring on an additional two staff members within the next year. Congratulations to Bill and the Citadel Foundation for their success! To learn more about GiftLegacy, call 1-800-858-9154 and ask to speak to one of our marketing specialists.