Planned Gifts Marketing Success Story: University of Colorado Foundation

I hear inspiring stories each week about how charities are multiplying their planned gifts, despite the economy. In the next two months, I plan to share these stories of organization who have found new ways to market smarter, better and more effectively. I want to share their best strategies and the ideas that have shaped their planned giving programs. I hope that you gain new insights from these successful charities as you consider your organization's planned gifts marketing efforts for 2012.

Kristen Dugdale, Vice President for Gift Planning at the University of Colorado Foundation (CU), was one of the most popular speakers on bequests at the 2011 Practical Planned Giving Conference (PPGC). I had the opportunity to talk with Kristen this week about the growth of CU’s bequest program.

Kristen said that a lot of what CU has done is to try to increase the profile of bequest giving on campus and with alumni. Most organizations receive the majority of their planned gifts in the form of bequests, but few organizations are out talking about bequests. For a long time, CU thought that if it could equip its development officers (who are out talking with donors on a daily basis) to discuss bequests, this would multiply bequests for CU.

Kristen talked with me about how she made the case for bequest giving with upper management at CU. She started by tracking when existing bequests were going to mature based on life expectancy. She was able to institute a regular report with the bequest pipeline to give the organization a solid visual of bequest expectancies. When she explained the impact of bequest giving to CU by showing that bequests were actually 10-11% of the organization’s business, the President of the Foundation was sold.

Once CU’s senior management saw the value of bequests it began to set goals for development staff to enter into the bequest discussion. Staff members were encouraged to begin requesting copies of the wills of those who made bequest commitments. They typically explain to the donor the importance of verifying that will language is appropriate to ensure that the donor’s wishes are carried out. They created a full package for the donor with information illustrating how their gift would be used.

As a result of this enhanced marketing effort, CU increased bequests by 700% in the first year of marketing. In the first year CU booked 25 million in bequests and 33 million in new bequest intentions the following year. Bequest giving never makes the Denver Post –but this story was so big for CU even the Post picked up on the bequest commitment increase of 700%. Kristen was not only encouraged by the good press but also the fact that upper management increased her bequest marketing budget!

Kristen told me that CU now has a $17.3 million estate pipeline coming through for the Foundation. She regularly reports on distributions from the pipeline to provide ongoing support for her case that bequests make a difference. The Dean and President of the University now also talk about bequests, because they see how important bequests are to CU.

Making bequests a priority for the organization is key to the success of your bequest program. Because so many institutions don’t focus on revocable gifts, your organization can miss out if it's not talking about bequests. To learn more about creative strategies for marketing bequests to your donors, call 1-800-858-9154 and ask to speak to a marketing specialist.