The Planned Giving Key: Lock in tomorrow's gifts today

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 Dear <$firstname$>,

Welcome to THE PLANNED GIVING KEY, a newsletter to help you increase your fundraising success with planned gifts!

Don't forget to sign up for my free Ventureneer Webinar: 
BUDGETLESS PLANNED GIVING
at the bottom of this e-newsletter and find out how to start bringing 
in planned gift commitments with little or no cost.

I think 2012 will see a lot of new planned giving programs springing up. Some will be the beginning of great things to come and others will falter and maybe not get off the ground. The difference will be how much attention is devoted to the campaigns. Let's remember...it's still fundraising although you usually need to have a lot more patience.

I've been ranting and raving about waging planned giving campaigns for about 15+ years. As with everything else involved with these gifts, things happen slowly. So, I'm really happy to see this increase in action from smaller and midsized nonprofits.

You are the community I serve. I want to do everything I can to help and encourage your success with planned gifts. We're even in the process of overhauling the business platform for easyPG^® so that it's more user friendly and affordable. If you have any suggestions for this, I'm all ears! If you think of something special that will help you with planned gifts, please let me know at lgreif@breakthroughphilanthropy.com or lgreif@easypg.com. 

The Planned Giving Breakthroughs blog (www.plannedgivingbreakthroughs.com) offers some ideas on ways to get your planned giving campaign off the ground. Let me know if they're helpful and please tell me what you think.  

Working to Bring You Breakthroughs in Philanthropy,

Warmest welcome to our new Planned Giving Key subscribers!

Wills Tag Lines

Planned gifts come from people who are committed and loyal to the nonprofits they feel are special. Letting people know that this kind of gifting is wanted and needed is paramount to success because it's not the first thing people think of when they want to make a contribution.

You have to educate your supporters about what is possible and then ask them to do it. Since these gifts often involve more than simply writing a check (which is also good!) you have to acclimate donors to thinking about this kind of charitable support. It just is not the "ask" they may be used to hearing from you.

I've noticed that a lot of nonprofits are now including the phrase "please remember us in your will" under email and letter signatures, on website home pages, and many other places that I've been saying should be utilized for this purpose.

It wouldn't be a bad idea to come up with something more mission related instead of going with something generic. It can define your nonprofit from the others while it reminds donors who you are. You want to stand out in the minds of donors for so many reasons; this should be one of them.

Think of something catchy that will separate you from the pack. For example, if your nonprofit is focused on advocacy, you might want to use the line "have the last word and remember XXX in your will" or if you're a historical society you might use "secure the future of our history". Use something that reminds people what you're about.

LinkedIn Group - easyPG^®  Group to Create Successful Planned Giving Campaigns.

our easyPG^®  Page on Facebook and get into the conversation about planned giving.

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Lorri M. Greif, CFRE, president of Breakthrough Philanthropy, Inc., and creator of the easyPG^® Program has worked for more than two decades in the nonprofit community focused on planned giving and major gifts.

She has created and implemented successful major gift and planned giving campaigns for both local and national nonprofits and her skill in training staff and leadership has made her a favorite speaker at planned giving seminars and conferences around the nation. 

Her unique experience in building or re-working varied major gift and planned giving fundraising campaigns from “the ground up” sets her apart from the crowd.

Lorri is a former board member of Women in Development (WID) and is still active on committees. She is also a member of the Association of Fund Raising Professionals (AFP), the Philanthropic Planning Group of Greater New York (PPGGNY), the Partnership for Philanthropic Planning (PPP), the American Council on Gift Annuities (ACGA), and served on the National Board of Gift-Planning Consultants for Planned Giving MENTOR™, a newsletter for beginners to gift planning. Her articles on gift planning and planned giving campaigns are widely published on line and in print. She can be reached at lgreif@breakthroughphilanthropy.com or lgreif@easypg.com