The Champion Approach to Planned Giving

I went to Newport Beach, CA to teach Girl Scout professional staff  how to be more effective fundraisers.  As usual, I learned more than I taught when I heard Dianne Belk speak about planned giving. She and her husband founded  The Dianne Belk and Lawrence Calder Legacy Fund Challenge.

Dianne gave a simple, elegant and powerful presentation. Dianne told her story about becoming a Girl Scout. She has been involved in the movement for 64 years. She went from being a poor girl in the South, to engineering school, and on to conquer corporate America. She then asked all of the people who had the Girl Scouts in their estate plans to stand. At least 15% of the audience stood. She asked them to come to the stage. She then asked anyone who planned to make a gift to come forward, and each received a pin from the Juliette Gordon Low Society indicating a planned gift.

The photo op was powerful. Everyone was beaming.

She spoke the next day on the specifics of planned giving. She then asked anyone who had thought about a planned gift during the evening and perhaps called a spouse if they wanted to be recognized.  Another 11 people came forward.

I told Dianne how fabulous her speech was and gave her my card. Sure enough, when I returned to St. Louis, I got a call from her to thank me for my kind words. Within 15 minutes, I made a pledge for a planned gift. What made me do it?

Since cloning is not yet available to nonprofits, how do you find your own Dianne Belk? Here is what you look for:

Is it going to be easy to find your own Dianne Belk. No. But if you don’t start looking today, you won’t have a champion tomorrow.