Note: This guest post from Christine Graham is adapted from her new book, Thinking About Planned Giving: Information for donors and their favorite causes. Thanks, Christine!

Planned giving is increasingly popular and often sounds complicated. It need not be. 

When we talk about planned giving (or legacy giving), we mean a charitable contribution that may:

• Provide financial support and future positive impacts for your donor’s favorite charities.
• Possibly provide donors and/or their heirs with tax savings.
• Have a positive financial impact for the donor for several years, or for their lifetime.
• Give the donor joy and satisfaction.

Nonprofits: Be prepared!

Being prepared is the most important part of a planned giving program, as people seldom create their estate plans simply in response to a solicitation.

Setting up estate giving is an emotional, sometimes daunting, project. If the donor is not ready to think about this, your best approach is to provide information and an invitation to talk, then give them space.

How your organization can prepare

Before soliciting planned gifts, consider putting the following pieces in place.

• Make sure your gift acceptance and acknowledgement policies are up to date and include stipulations regarding planned gifts.

• Determine which planned gifts you can accept…and which you would not. For example, you might choose to welcome gifts of stock or other securities but not artwork.

• Create materials, in alignment with approved policies, that are informative, easy to read and understand, brief but thorough. This should include a printed document that describes your mission – and will not go out of date quickly. It should also contain contact info, the legal name and current address, and the EIN for your organization.

• Add a planned giving section to your Donate webpage. Do not let it overwhelm the page or appear to displace annual giving.

Create a Legacy Society

• Establish a Legacy Society (you can choose a clever name that relates to your mission) that acknowledges all those who have left a bequest of any kind to your organization, plus those who have informed you of their intention to do so. This is not a financial recording of donations; rather, it’s an opportunity to thank these donors. Some organizations will occasionally celebrate the members of their Legacy Society at an event, but usually a list of names in your annual report is sufficient.

• Develop a regular schedule of planned giving stories in your newsletter and e-news. An interview with a donor who has established a planned gift, a brief article on a specific planned gift method, or a story about something funded by a planned gift – any of these can spur donors to act on their good intentions.

• Once or twice a year, at varying times, send a brief brochure, letter, or email inviting your most likely donors to consider planned gifts: those over 55, those with long association or donor history, and those who have expressed gratitude for some aspect of your programs. This list will change periodically.

• Make certain that people in your organization – ideally staff, but also board members – are knowledgeable about planned giving. One knowledgeable person is good; more than one is even better.

Talk about it

• When you meet with donors and prospects to discuss other giving options, include planned giving in those conversations. Use your judgment, knowing this can be an emotional conversation and not everyone is always open to it.

• Stay in touch with those who have expressed interest in setting up a planned gift or have included your organization in their will. Even if their annual giving falls off, you need to keep in touch thoughtfully and intentionally.

• Keep good records, including contact information for the donor’s family members, so you can thank the right people at the right time.

Yes, you can!

Many, many organizations struggle to cover their basic fundraising functions: annual giving, writing grants, cultivating major donors, posting on social media, etc. Adding planned giving to the menu might feel like one task too many. 

However, if you’re sending appeals and meeting with donors and sharing e-news and organizing benefit events, consider this: Can you add a bit of planned giving content to the work you’re already doing? How can you integrate planned giving messages into your existing fundraising tools and channels?

Start simple … but start today. A little extra work could yield big results.