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Now that we have reviewed the plan giving options and vehicles,
we can shift our attention to identifying planned giving prospects and
building relationships with donors to help them.
To achieve their philanthropic goals by being donor-centered.
Planned giving prospects demonstrate different characteristics from major
gift prospects.
Wealth is not the most significant indicator of a potential planned
giving prospect.
The key factors in identifying point giving prospects are,
loyalty and the age of the prospect.
The number and frequency of gifts is more important than the amount.
Donors who consistently support an organization are committed
to the mission and demonstrate loyalty.
It's the consistency and longevity that are important,
not the size of each gift, or the cumulative total.
These loyal individuals are more likely to support the organization with a plan gift,
because they are dedicated to the cause
to a level that they're willing to make it part of their legacy.
Individuals that are thinking about their legacy tend to be seniors and retirees.
They're typically 60 years or older.
This doesn't mean that younger individuals aren't thinking about their legacy or
including charities in their state plans.
It just means that seniors and retirees are more likely to be entering a stage in
life where there are a few contingency and more stability in their state plan.
So we want to focus on limited resources on these prospects and donors.
In addition to loyalty and age, there are other factors that you should
look at to further qualify your plan giving prospects.
For potential bequest donors, look for individuals that have no heirs.
The individual is not married and has no children.
These donors have assets in their state that will need to be distributed upon
their passing.
It's likely that they will select charities.
Please note that just because they have no heirs doesn't mean that they haven't
identified individuals in their estate plans.
They may be leaving all or part of their estate to a friend or a distant relative.
Having no heir just makes them more likely to be
receptive to including charities in their estate plan.
For potential charitable gift to the donors,
these individuals will have evidence of conservatively invested assets.
They may be looking for additional investments that produce guaranteed
fixed income or they may have fixed income investments that they're unhappy with and
looking for an alternative.
For example, they might have a bank certificate of deposit that historically
doesn't produce a lot of income.
Certificates of deposit mature after a specified period and
the person evaluates what they should do with the money.
They maybe trying to answer the question,
should I do a new certificate of deposit or find another option?
A charitable gift annuity could be the option they're looking for.
The other factors you should look at for potential charitable remainder trust
donors, are prospects that may be identified as a speculative or
risk friendly investor and have substantial property holdings.
These donors aren't looking for fixed income, but
rather something that has potential to grow over time.
Another option to identify polygamy prospects is using analytics.
For those organizations that have the budget resources there are companies
that we'll look at your database of prospects and provide model scores
that rate each individual for the likelihood to make a plan gift.
If your database is robust and has a lengthy history,
then you could get a custom model that would be specific to your organization.
Most of the time you won't have enough data points to warrant custom modeling, so
you'll utilize standard modeling.
Standard modeling basically means that a plan giving donor
has the same characteristics no matter what organization they support.
I believe for the most part this is accurate enough to
provide most organizations a significant benefit in targeting the most
likely planned giving prospects in their database.
I would have to say the most accurate way to detect a planned giving prospect is to
provide them opportunities to self-identify.
This is most often accomplished through a planned giving marketing program.
The planned giving marketing program is used to notify and
educate prospect on various planned giving vehicles.
Usually this is done through semi-promotional materials to the prospect
through email or regular mail.
The promotional piece will highlight a specific planned giving vehicle,
like a mailing that promotes bequests.
The promotional mailing will allow the donor to request additional information
which is equivalent to the donor raising our hand to say that there are interested.
It can also be through the promotion of a planned giving website that allows
those that visit the chance to request information or ask questions.
Another very simple option is to add a statement to all the gift receipts and
pledge reminders sent out by your organization so the donor can
let your organization know if they would like information on plan giving or
have already included you in their estate plans.
It's important to respond to the donor's inquiries quickly to meet their timeline.
You want the donor's impression to be that they can trust and
rely on you to respond appropriately and timely.
It's very common for the plan giving donor to have urgency when they finally decided
to move forward with the planned gift.
This could be a year end deadline or they've just recently met with their
estate planning attorney and want to finalize their plan.
Brian CaseyAssistant Vice Chancellor for Planned Giving
