By Doug Scott
Vice President, Fundraising Solutions & Grants

Whether intentionally or not, one of the most overlooked aspects of a fundraising program is planned giving. There are a variety of reasons (excuses…?) that planned giving may not be top of mind for a nonprofit’s development team, but rising to the top are (1) a lack of immediate or timely benefit to the organization, and (2) the intimidation factor of asking for such a gift – and the fact that death is an unavoidable undercurrent to the conversation (awkward, right?).

In the first of a two-part series on planned giving, we’re sharing our thoughts on the reasons to make sure planned giving is part of your organization’s fundraising program. We believe you must understand the reasons behind and benefits of a planned giving program before you can proceed with creating a plan that feels approachable, manageable, and achievable.

Planned giving is a crucial part of a fundraising program for a few big reasons:

1. Your organization’s long-term financial sustainability. Planned gifts empower donors to make gifts through estate planning, charitable trusts, and other vehicles. It provides a predictable, future income stream to support a nonprofit’s long-term strategic initiatives.
   
2. The potential for a larger donation. Planned gifts are often significantly larger than annual or even major gifts. Planned gifts often take the form of assets such as real estate, stocks, or entire estates totaling far more than a donor might be able to give during their lifetime.
   
3. The opportunity to develop deeper relationships with donors. A planned gift commitment indicates something has motivated the donor to support your mission and the people or causes you serve. The fact that they’re willing to include you in their long-term financial plans opens the door to engage them in other ways with your nonprofit, such as through volunteerism, mentorship, or as an ambassador – which has the potential to result in additional gifts, either from the donor or their network.
   
4. The ability to diversify where the money comes from. By incorporating planned giving, your organization reduces financial risk by creating additional revenue channels beyond traditional fundraising methods. Planned giving also helps organizations build more resilient and stable funding models.
   
5. Significant tax benefits for the donor. High net worth individuals might be motivated to make planned gifts because of available tax advantages.

If you have additional thoughts on the reasons for or benefits of a planned giving program, or you have tips you’d like to share that could be included in part two of our planned giving series (and attributed to you!) feel free to reach out – I’d love to hear what you think.

Stay tuned for part two, where we’ll outline considerations for creating a planned giving playbook that’s specific to your organization.