The Ultimate Guide to Legacy Fundraising for Charities

Everything You Need To Know About Gift-Giving & Legacy Fundraising

Planned giving has become increasingly popular over the past few years, especially among Baby Boomers. However, quite a significant number of people don’t have a proper planned giving education.

As a result, there are a variety of people who are either unaware of the area or don’t know enough about it to capitalize on legacy fundraising. This is something that many people and non-profit organizations want to overcome.

Despite this, many people may not know where to start with a planned giving education. Much of this is because there can be a large number of things involved in the niche, with one of the most notable being the various factors that could go into choosing who people should donate to.

Alongside this, many people mightn’t know where to start with legacy fundraising, which can also extend to organizations looking to take advantage of it. Since there are a variety of things involved in planned giving education, it’s worth taking a deep-dive into what it is and how people can benefit from it.

While planned giving might seem quite complicated, it can be much simpler than you might expect. There are a few notable things that you’ll need to be aware of when gift planning.

What Is Planned Giving?

One of the first things that you may wonder about gift planning focuses on what it is. In short, this is the act of someone making a large charitable gift from their estate, with this typically being done after they’ve died. There are a variety of aspects involved in this, which is why a significant amount of time and effort is needed to plan ahead.

The majority of these efforts will aim to ensure that the value of a donation is as large as possible. While many people may assume that these donations will be financial, they can often include a wide range of other things. Some of the more notable of these gifts include real estate and other belongings.

Typically, this will mean that a person looking to donate the gift will need to work with a variety of people to ensure that it’s done correctly. This will usually be a professional working in estate planning, such as an attorney or other qualified professional.

A qualified professional will be needed, as there can often be a variety of complex tax and legal strategies required to maximize the value of the gift. Alongside this, they’ll help ensure there are no complications in giving the donation, which is especially useful should someone be planning to donate them once they’ve died.

As a result, these planned gifts are different from a charitable donation from your cash flow. This normally means that these donations aren’t included in legacy fundraising or gift planning.

While planned gifts are typically donated when a person is deceased, many of them can be given while they’re still living. These typically utilize a trust, where a specific amount is donated to a charity regularly, with the remaining balance being donated when the donor is deceased.

On top of money donated from funds, there are a variety of other donations that can be made with this process, with many of these including physical objects. Some of the more notable of these, including

• Real Estate
• Art & other memorabilia
• Any other assets

Alongside this, you can also name a charity or non-profit in their life insurance policy. Naturally, this will only be payable upon death, although it will allow donors to make quite a substantial donation once they’ve died.

While the process can take a certain amount of time to perform, it can be quite beneficial for both the person donating and the organization that they’re giving to. In the majority of cases, donors will need to hire a legal professional to help set this up, although quite a significant number of charities will have qualified employees who will be able to help with this.

How Does It Benefit A Charity?

There are quite a significant number of benefits to legacy fundraising for charities, with many of these being quite obvious. Despite this, there may be a variety of them that you may not be aware of. One of the largest of these is that it should allow the non-profit to plan ahead.

While you may not be able to determine exactly when you’ll receive funds from specific donors, you should know approximately how much the charity will be getting in the years ahead. As a result of this, you’ll be able to ensure that many of the activities and expenses that the organization should be covered.

Alongside this, you may be able to see a few other notable benefits by taking advantage of this. Some of the more prominent include

• Donations should be much larger than ones typically seen during a donor’s life
• The donations should provide a certain amount of income security for charities
• It gives a non-profit the opportunity to create much deeper relationships with its donors

Each of these should be benefits that you’ll want to capitalize on. However, there are a variety of things that you’ll need to look at to ensure that these fundraising efforts are as high-quality as possible.

The majority of these will focus on creating a planned giving education strategy that gains the attention of potential donors and convinces them to put the charity into your will.

What Are The Benefits Of Planned Giving For Donors?

Many people will wonder what the advantages of legacy fundraising will be for donors. While there are the apparent benefits for non-profits, these mightn’t apply to individuals. As such, you’ll need to ensure that your planned giving education initiatives highlight the various benefits that donors will see.

While there are a few obvious advantages to this, there is a variety that mightn’t be as clear. The first of these is that people who donate through their will can help create a positive legacy that will last for a considerable amount of time after they’ve passed on.

Alongside this, donors will be able to determine where their money goes and how effectively it’s spent. While much of this will be seen as a benefit of an overall will, specifying which charity the funds go to, and how much of it goes to them, can be something that quite a significant number of people will want to take advantage of.

There are also a variety of other benefits that donors will be able to capitalize on, such as:

• Being able to support a cause that they care about, and;
• Reducing tax inheritance for their loved ones.

These can often be advantages that many potential donors may not be aware of. As such, when you’re looking to increase the amount of donations that your charity receives in this way, you should look to include them in your planned giving education campaign.

By doing so, you should be able to maximize the number of donations that you receive through a will.

Simple Tips For Effective Legacy Fundraising

Many non-profits and charities may often not know how to maximize their gift planning and legacy fundraising efforts. However, there are a variety of factors that you should look at to do so. The majority of these will focus on creating a high-quality planned giving education campaign, which focuses on why someone should donate to your charity.

Many of these may be much more self-evident than others. They should still form an integral part of your planned giving education campaign.

The first of these will be to ensure potential donors know what their donations will be going toward. This will primarily be because potential givers will need to know this and will be unlikely to donate if they don’t. There are a variety of simple ways that this can be done, with the majority focusing on highlighting the work that the charity has done in the past.

Alongside this, you might also want to consider highlighting plans that the non-profit has, which will help potential donors to decide if they wish to help with this. While these steps can be obvious, there are a few other notable tips that you may not be aware of.

One of the largest of these is taking the family-first approach. This is something that many organizations may overlook, although it’s something that shouldn’t be. The primary reason for this is that many people may believe that donating a large portion of their estate to charity may be considered disinheriting their family.

While this often shouldn’t be the case, you should aim to help potential donors realize this. As such, you should take a family-first approach to your messaging. This is something that can be much easier than you might believe.

When doing so, you should ensure that a potential donor looks after their loved ones first and then consider donating a portion of what’s left in the estate. Despite being relatively simple, this is something that could help increase your overall fundraising efforts.

Alongside this, you should aim to include legacy fundraising in as many of your conversations and marketing materials as possible. While this shouldn’t come across as forced, you should look to normalize the concept of planning their charitable gifts, as it’s something that many people mightn’t be aware of.

As such, it can be considered taboo by a variety of people, with much of this being derived from the fact that it can be closely associated with death. As such, normalizing the process and the overall concept can help increase the number of people who will include the charity in their will.

You should also know your audience as much as possible. While this is a tip that’s typically used in the business world, it can apply to charities too. This will primarily focus on knowing who will be more likely to donate to your organization.

With this, you should know as much information about potential donors as possible. The majority of this will focus on key demographics, such as age, location, and much more. Much of this can be taken from the people who already donate to your non-profit.

By doing so, you’ll be able to ensure that you’re targeting people who will be more likely to take part in your legacy fundraising efforts. You should also speak to each of your current donors about these efforts. While marketing materials will often be beneficial, sometimes a simple conversation can maximize these efforts.

One area that many people may overlook is making the gift planning process as easy as possible. There are a variety of reasons why people may put off creating their will. When they start doing so, they’ll want to get the process done as quickly and easily as possible.

You should make it easy for potential donors to find relevant information about your legacy fundraising campaign. Create brochures and website pages that include the information they’ll need to add your charity in their will.

All of this should help form a high-quality gift planning education campaign. This, in turn, will help you and your organization to maximize the donations that you receive in this way. While these may be relatively straightforward, they can often take a large amount of time to do so. Despite this, they can be well worth the time and effort.

While there is a lot involved in legacy fundraising, the act can be well worth the time and effort. When doing so, you should ensure that your planned giving education is as high-quality as possible.

This should extend to both organizations looking to accept donations and individuals planning on giving them. By keeping these in mind,  you should ensure that your planned giving education is as high-quality as possible.

This will ensure that everybody involved sees the benefits involved in the act. Rest easy knowing that everything is taken care of. Like many other things, in planned giving, education can be vital. While this may seem overwhelming, it doesn’t have to be.

Use these tactics to ensure that your legacy fundraising and gift planning efforts are as high-quality as possible.