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Reinvent your legacy society to become a stewardship society instead
I’ve always been a bit baffled by Legacy Societies. Here’s why:
- Oddly, many nonprofits try very hard to get people to “join.” Yet, the benefits of joining kinda’ suck. Some just give you a pin.
- Once people “join”, too often the donors get ignored (in other words, many nonprofits rarely ever do much with the members).
So why create a Legacy Society if the benefits are nominal and/or insignificant?
Why push so many people to join only to be forgotten?
Instead, why not reinvent your legacy society to become a stewardship society instead. Here’s what I mean:
- Invite all of your loyal supporters, members, volunteers, etc
- Don’t worry about whether or not they planned to leave a gift yet
- Dream up awesome, amazing benefits for the members (REAL benefits that will warm their hearts!)
- Steward the heck out of them (Shower them with love, invitations, impact reports, phone calls and opportunities to get involved)
- Encourage them to participate in events with personalized invitations to events that you know will be relevant for them (about the programs they want to support)
- Help them mingle and share stories with one another at events
- Put those who have already made planned gifts on a pedestal at the events (with their permission of course)
- Display signage at the events
- Ask the planned givers to share their stories and explain why they planned a gift
- Provide several means for members to raise their hands showing interest in the legacy giving option
- Follow up with those leads
- Consider asking a planned gift supporter to go with you on your visits
Maybe this is a crazy idea? Let me know what you think.
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Does this apply to donors who do not reside in the city/state in which your org operates? I find the legacy society as it existed in the past baffling as well. Somewhat akin to attempting to create urgency by telling donors we’re nearing our FY end or the donor honor roles in publications.
I love your ideas of a stewardship society!
I think it DOES apply to donors who do not reside in the city/state in which your organization operates. Sure! Why not?