This was a practical session, because the hand-out provided plenty of visual examples of how PG invitations and offers are being marketed by some notable organizations.

Some of the things I found relevant in this session were:

• To effectively market planned giving, you need to make planned giving part of giving. You can’t look at it as something separate from giving, because its really just another way to give.


• One great point of advice was that when older people stop giving to the regular direct mail program, you need to think very seriously about "switching" them over to planned giving cultivation. Consider writing to them saying "you are now a lifetime member (or something similar)" These older donors may now be entering a new phase in their relationship with you - the "planned-giving-ready" phase, so you need to be extremely careful not to make them fell "punished" for their change in giving behavior that looks like they’ve stopped caring about you.


• It was great to be reminded that bequests are still a wonderful "low-hanging-fruit" opportunity for many organizations, since over 70% of (adult) Americans currently do not have a will. An offer to help someone create their will is still a tremendously effective marketing approach for planned giving cultivation.


• Another interesting point I took away was a reminder that every organization should have a formal, written gift acceptance policy. There was unanimity from all the panelists that this was the best way to avoid some bad situations with major supporters, since you can point to an official policy of the organization for any awkward decisions you might need to make about accepting their generosity.

Christopher Noble, SVP, Fundraising, LW Robbins Associates