Planned gifts are often the largest gifts a donor ever makes to a nonprofit, and they are certainly counted among the largest gifts many nonprofits ever receive.

They also improve a donor’s lifetime giving and build a donor’s sense of “family” with the nonprofit(s) they remember in their wills and trusts.

No wonder your competitors are out there trying to capture the hearts (and estate plans) of your supporters.

You can be sure they are:

1. Regularly mailing your donors  information about their nonprofit’s work and the impact of “planned gifts,”
2. Highlighting planned giving matters (Legacy Society, ease of making gifts, etc.) on their website – using easy navigation to planned giving pages – creating a sense of how important they consider these gifts,
3. Inviting your donors for meetings and/or tours when appropriate – then sending surveys with questions regarding your donors’ likes (and dislikes) about their work,
4. Inviting your donors to events of possible interest – and following up with them,
5. Using donor-friendly, easy-to-understand language to explain the definition of “planned giving” and how it works,
6. Demonstrating to your donors why leaving a bequest to them is easy and will make a difference for both your donor and their nonprofit (often using testimonials from their own donors when possible)
7. ASKING with regularity for a bequest or another type of “planned gift” – and following up.

Your competitors know that planned gifts are golden so they cultivate and thank your donors at every opportunity (and even try to create these opportunities).

What are you doing to keep your donors’ bequests and also get your competitors’?

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