Guaranteed Simple Steps to Raise Planned Gifts Waypoints Guide By Viken Mikaelian Valley Forge, Pennsylvania (800) 873-9203 Success@PlannedGiving.Com
Why Planned Giving? If you re not asking your prospects for planned gifts, someone else is. Eventually that someone else will steal your cash gifts, too. Cash-starved times are best times for planned giving. Those who dabble in planned giving eventually earn 50% to 100% more than those who don t. A typical planned gift is 200 to 300 times the size of a donor s largest annual gift. Planned gifts do not affect prospects cash flow. Most are easy to give and to receive. Prospects are eager to make a planned gift, but simply don t know how. Prospects making gifts through their wills typically increase their annual support. Anyone can make a planned gift. It s easy and it works. Only 5% of this nation s wealth is in hard-to-get cash. Why not pursue the easy-to-get assets? Common Sense Planned Giving Focus on the gifts everyone can make: Gifts From Will or Trust (Bequests) Appreciated Stuff (securities, antiques, anything that can be appraised and sold) Life Insurance IRAs Easy to give and to receive; usually do not require a lawyer or professional advice, make up over 80% of all planned gifts. Sell Benefits, Not Features See the sizzle, not the steak. Features slow down the process and promote death. Benefits sell the sizzle and promote immortality. Straight Talk Know your basic elevator pitches : You can make a gift that costs you nothing during your lifetime. Did you know that giving stock can be more beneficial than giving cash? Make a gift and get income for life. Taxes will eat 60-70% of your IRA if you give it to heirs. You do not need to know technical details of all gift plans. The Ultimate Quick Reference Planned Giving Pocket Guide covers all you ll need. It s included free of charge with this presentation.
Planned Giving is not Fundraising It s marketing, relationships, and sales Don t Make Your Prospect Think Less is more. Keep your content concise, donor-centered and user-friendly. Don t give your prospects homework. Donor Stories: Why We Give Don t forget the power of a good donor story with a picture. Such stories motivate others to give and often generate second time gifts. Useful download: donor story brainstorming form, www.plannedgiving.com/27 Shoe Leather Minutiae will keep you behind your desk trying to reach impossible perfection. Don t waste time preparing to prepare. Get out there and make contact! Do You Think You Deserve a Pass Because You re a Nonprofit? You re not special. You re a business. And you need to think like a business. Think savvy marketing, sales, and relationships. Marketing Through Social Media Either do it right, or do not do it at all. Those who do it successfully have someone dedicated full-time to social media. Choose the Right Prospects Micro Targeting Narrow your list for better results. How? Choose your most loyal donors those who give most consistently over time your best planned giving prospects.
On Using Print Media Marketing through print media can get expensive. Narrow your mailing list down to your most loyal donors. They are those who give most consistently over time. They are your best prospects. US Mail, not e-blasts, is still the preferred way to receive information. Use more than one medium: include postcards, solicitations letters, fliers, columns/articles, etc. Identify each venue by which your organization reaches out to its constituency, and make sure it carries a planned giving message. Postcards have a very high readership rate and get your message across fast. Humor communicates but do not distract or detract from your message. Make consistent multiple mailings. One-shot efforts do not work. Planned Giving Newsletters Don t waste your time with traditional newsletters they re not getting read. Easy is not good enough. Generic publications with cookie-cutter content are cheap for a reason. Planned giving newsletters that work are engaging, entertaining, and useful to the reader. Build readership by balancing content. No one wants to read a newsletter that is all pushy promotion. Benefits-based marketing retains and persuades the readers that gift-features boilerplate alienates. Electronic Marketing Use email to regularly keep in touch with prospects and let them know what s going on at your organization. Make sure your signature line carries a planned giving elevator pitch. Hyperlink it to your planned giving website, or even a specific gift page. Do not use dedicated email blasts to solicit planned gifts. If your organization sends out an institutional email, carry your message there. Your planned giving website spreads your message 24/7/365 be sure to publicize its URL and hyperlink to it wherever possible.
The Marketing Compass: Frequency Make 27 personal touches (phone calls, voicemails, thank-you cards, etc.) a year with your prospects to keep them up-to-date and involved. It s easier than you think. Consistency Send your marketing materials on a regular and anticipated basis. Constancy Do not allow interruptions, lapses or gaps. Diversity Use different media to communicate. Creativity Be entertaining and interesting, but don t sacrifice the message. Quality Include information, education, interesting stuff from an interesting institution (yours), and news they can use. A Gentle Question to Ask Your Prospect If I can show you a way to redirect your taxes to benefit your family, your community and our mission, will you give me a half an hour to discuss that with you?
Resources More real-world know-how from the planned giving front lines is available free of charge for downloading on www.plannedgiving.com/resources. The specific resources mentioned in this presentation include: Planned giving solicitation letter : Survey results: Are you getting those donor stories? Donor testimonial brainstorming sheet: www.plannedgiving.com/afp www.plannedgiving.com/surveyresults www.virtualgiving.com/resources/white_papers www.plannedgiving.com/27 Something you didn t agree with? Something you want to add to? Something you think needs more explanation? Tell us about it: Success@PlannedGiving.Com I hope you found my presentation stimulating and useful. My mission is to make available to you the best know-how, insight, and tools so you can keep yourself, your career, and your organization permanently ahead of the curve. Contact me. Let me know how you re doing. And let me know how I m doing. Let s improve and succeed together. Viken Mikaelian Founder, PlannedGiving.Com Success@PlannedGiving.Com Included in this presentation, The Ultimate Quick Reference Planned Giving Pocket Guide, a $24.95 value. Read it. Use it. Benefit from it.
Notes Something you didn t agree with? Something you want to add to? Something you think needs more explanation? Tell us about it: Success@PlannedGiving.Com