Reinvent your legacy society to become a stewardship society instead

I’ve always been a bit baffled by Legacy Societies. Here’s why:

1. Oddly, many nonprofits try very hard to get people to “join.” Yet, the benefits of joining kinda’ suck. Some just give you a pin.
2. 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:

1. Invite all of your loyal supporters, members, volunteers, etc
2. Don’t worry about whether or not they planned to leave a gift yet
3. Dream up awesome, amazing benefits for the members (REAL benefits that will warm their hearts!)
4. Steward the heck out of them (Shower them with love, invitations, impact reports, phone calls and opportunities to get involved)
5. 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)
6. Help them mingle and share stories with one another at events
7. Put those who have already made planned gifts on a pedestal at the events (with their permission of course)
8. Display signage at the events
9. Ask the planned givers to share their stories and explain why they planned a gift
10. Provide several means for members to raise their hands showing interest in the legacy giving option
11. Follow up with those leads
12. 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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