In this episode of Nonprofit Answers, I jump into the art of planned giving conversations and how to make them more impactful and successful. Whether you’re new to planned giving or looking to enhance your approach, this episode provides actionable techniques that can instantly elevate your discussions with donors.
I cover key strategies, including starting the conversation with the donor’s legacy, using storytelling to illustrate impact, simplifying complex concepts, creating a sense of urgency without pressure, and the importance of follow-up. By implementing these techniques, you can build deeper relationships with your donors and help them create a lasting legacy through planned giving.
Listen now to discover how to transform your planned giving conversations and secure long-term support for your nonprofit’s mission.
Transcript:
Welcome to another episode of nonprofit answers podcast, where we explore strategies, techniques, and insights to help you achieve your nonprofits mission and maximize your impact. I’m Jeremy Rice. Today, we’re going to dive into a topic that. Has the potential to really, uh, transform. Uh, your fundraising. Uh, this is a topic that is challenging even for fundraisers and it’s planned giving conversations. Now, whether you’re new to playing giving, or you’re just looking for some tips and some hints and some secrets for how to best use planned giving for your fundraising.
I think you’re going to really enjoy this episode because we’re going to talk about some actionable tips you can use. To elevate your conversations with donors. Uh, so let’s get started. So what is planned giving? So there is some misunderstanding out there that plan giving is really only talking about, uh, you know, wills and estates and bequests and. And you know, things for end of life, but plain giving is not just that plain giving.
It’s a, a method for donors to support nonprofits that, uh, enables donors to make larger gifts. And they couldn’t make from their just their typical income alone. Uh, it typically involves a financial assets, the state planning, uh, it typically involves, uh, things that are complex in nature. And oftentimes lawyers and accountants get involved to make sure that. We’re setting up the plan gift correctly. Now it can take various forms.
It does include things like bequests or life insurance policies, retirement plan assets. Uh, charitable remainder trusts. You know, we’re saying a lot of these things that you’re going to learn about charitable lead trusts. Uh, real estate, other assets. Uh, these gifts are. Uh, part of a donors. Um, overall financial and estate planning. And oftentimes these donors are pretty sophisticated in how they give. And they can get significant tax benefits. Uh, to support the nonprofit to support your ministry.
The idea behind playing, giving. It’s to allow your donors to create a lasting legacy. Uh, legacy that aligns there, a full philanthropy goals. Uh, and their financial estate plans. And it’s a powerful tool for the donors because it allows them to do things they otherwise couldn’t do. And it’s a powerful tool for the nonprofit because they can get some significant income. From these kinds of assets. Uh, that can help them accomplish their mission. And it’s not just about securing guests for the future. Uh, it’s about the relationship that you’re building with donors. Uh, these conversations, they can feel challenging. They can, uh, Feel, uh, daunting.
Uh, but with the right techniques, you can make it natural. You can make it engaging and you can be successful with your plan giving conversations. So let’s break down some of the secret techniques that you can use to instantly elevate your plane, given conversations. The first technique is to start with. The donors legacy donors are often motivated by the idea of leaving a lasting impact. When you’re initiating a plan, giving conversation, focus on the legacy that these donors want to leave behind. Ask them open-ended questions.
Like what are the causes you care about most. How would you like to be remembered? Focus on the donors legacy, not on loss or potential loss. These kind of questions. They open up a conversation that allow you to understand what truly matters to your donor. This understanding is it’s key. To tailoring your plan, gift, opera, uh, options. So that you can help align the options that you have with their values. And with their passions.
Next is the power of storytelling. Storytelling. Isn’t just for marketing. It’s really a core. It’s a vital part. Of. Our plane giving conversations. Share stories with your donors. Uh, sheriffs share stories of other donors. Who’ve made a difference with their playing gift. Uh, share stories of the kind of tangible impact that giving playing gifts can make and the kind of impact that they’ve had on your organization. And the kind of impact they’ve had on the people that you serve.
For example, you might, uh, use the story of a donor named Jane and don’t and Jane was a long time supporter and she wanted to ensure that her commitment to the cause continued even after she was gone.
And so through her plan, gift, She was able to launch a new program that has helped hundreds of people. And that program is going to continue for a long time because of the investment that she made, that Jane made. Into the cause into the organization so that she can help people. Uh, beyond her lifetime.
Now start your storytelling early in the relationship. Do you know which donors can make an excellent foundation for your plan giving program? Mid-level donors. These are donors that are from a lot of organizations are in this like thousand to $10,000 giving range. And oftentimes they get ignored by nonprofits. But you don’t have to ignore them any longer. I’ve built a free resource that I want to share with you today.
If you head on over to nonprofit fundraising.com/ mid-level. You can download your free mid-level donor communications kit. What you’re going to get is a, it’s a planning guide for your first year of communications for mid-level donor. You’re going to welcome these folks. Well, To your list. Uh, you’re going to get 25 conversation starters.
So have you ever called up a mid-level donor? You don’t know exactly what to talk about. There’s 25 conversation starters in there that can help you get the information you need to both develop a relationship with these donors, but also understand. What motivates them? What do they want to give to, why did they give. And how can they give, uh, in a way with plain giving, that’s going to make sense for where they’re at. So go to nonprofit fundraising.com/admin level and download this great resource today. The approach of using storytelling in your fundraising. It’s going to make your plan giving more relatable, and it’s going to inspire your donor and it’s going to help them develop a deeper relationship with your organization so they can have a significant, a significant impact.
The next tip I have for you is to keep it simple. And clear, you know, one day I was asking some of the staff members on my team, some questions about plan giving just to gauge where they’re at in their knowledge. And some of these concepts are really challenging. Uh, some of the acronyms we throw around. Uh, they don’t make sense to people who are not deep into, uh, the kind of information we are around playing giving.
And so you need to use techniques to keep your conversation simple and clear with donors, plain giving, uh, can seem complex and donors might feel overwhelmed by the details. I know that when I am trying to make a decision. And there’s so much information to absorb. There’s so many options to look at. And a lot of them are complex options that for me, Uh, oftentimes I just won’t make a decision at all.
I’ll just put it off. And sometimes this is what playing giving feels like to donors. They don’t want to think about it. They don’t want to deal with it. Uh, you’re presenting options that are going to require accountants and lawyers to get involved. And, and so the natural inclination is to stay. Uh, this is too complex right now.
I don’t want to deal with that. I’ve got other things that are more important to deal with your role. Is to demystify the process. So you want to avoid jargon and technical terms. So, uh, you can. Do this by explaining plain giving options in very straightforward language. For example, instead of saying charitable remainder trust. You might say, this is a way for you to receive income during your lifetime while ensuring that what’s left goes to support the mission and support the people they care about. When you make these conversations easy to understand. You’re going to help these donors feel more comfortable. You’re gonna help them feel more confident in them making a decision. Uh, to give back using plan giving.
You want to create a sense of urgency, but without pressure.
So one of the challenges in playing giving is balancing that urgency with sensitivity. You want to encourage the donors to act. But you don’t want to feel pressured. Uh, this is where you can create a sense of urgency. Uh, but without the pressure and that’s where, uh, we want to go as, as we move down the conversation with donors. So you might say something like, you know, we’ve seen that many donors who start their plain giving early on are able to make even more of an impact because they can plan for the future in a way that aligns with their life goals. So that technique, it gently nudges the donors to consider the timing of their gift.
Uh, emphasizing the benefits of planning ahead without making them feel rushed. You don’t, they don’t need to be rushed. Um, but like all channels of giving, having some level of urgency in there is going to help move them towards a gift.
Follow up with people. Keep that conversation going. Uh, remember playing given conversations are really one and done. It’s not typical. You’re going to make a phone call or an in-person visit. And you nailed down exactly the details of what you want to do and what the donor wants to do. Uh, following up with them is crucial.
Uh, after your, that initial discussion, send a thank you note, share resources, uh, invite them to a special event where they can learn more. That’s one of the things that we’re going to try at Krista. It’s to build out some special events for, uh, folks that are, uh, connected to Krista, something that they would enjoy, uh, something that they, uh, would feel brings value to them. Uh, but allows us to have a plain giving conversation. In a way that makes sense. So keep that conversation going. Uh, because it shows the donor that you value their interest and you’re committed to helping them achieve their legacy goals. And also gives them time to reflect on the information and make a decision that feels right for them.
One of the things that you can do to help donors.
This is another technique that a lot of organizations do to help. Demystify the complexity of plan giving is to create a micro-site that’s dedicated to playing giving. Uh, it’s a very popular strategy for nonprofit. This is a lot of organizations that will actually build you your own microsite using, uh, information that has cleared all the lawyers and the laws and the accountants and everybody so that you’re not, uh, giving bad advice. Uh, they serve as a focused user-friendly place for the information and resources laid playing, getting, and it helps educate donors and guide them through the process.
There are seven benefits to building out a plan that giving Microsoft for your organization first focused content. Micro-site and allows your nonprofit to. Create content that’s tailored towards the specific needs of planned giving. This really helps you focus and eliminate distractions of people going to other pages on the site and losing track of. The plain giving conversation. Uh, losing track of, you know, exactly what they need. Uh, the kind of information that you need around different kinds of playing gifts, the legal and tax considerations of playing gifts.
And of course, testimonials, you’ve got to get testimonials on there. From other donors who have given plan gifts. Second, it’s an educational resource. So donors that may not be familiar with the concept of planned giving or how it works. In fact, As I did earlier and told you about my staff, you might want to check with your staff and see how many of them are familiar with playing giving and how it works. A micro-site it can. Uh, really feature a range of educational materials. Uh, can have articles on it.
Videos frequently asked questions, glossaries of relevant terms. Uh, resources that are specific to your organization. So how do I, you know, make a plan gift to the organization? Like where do I send it? You know, things like that. It mix, uh, these educational resources makes playing, getting it’s more accessible. Uh, it’s less intimidating for your donors. Storytelling and testimonials.
When you share stories of donors who have made playing gifts, it can be a powerful way to inspire those who are given to your organization to give a plain gift. Uh, micro-site allows you to highlight these stories. You can show the impact of somebody who’s playing gifts on your mission and on the lasting legacy that they made to help. People. Testimonials. They add a personal touch. And it makes the concept of playing giving way more relatable.
You can create interactive tools on your Microsoft. Uh, you might incorporate a gift calculators or decision trees. Uh, forms that they can fill out online. Uh, whatever it might be, these tools can really help someone understand the different types of playing gifts and understand the financial benefits to their heirs or to themselves. Uh, and the impact that they’re going to have on the lives of the people that you serve.
Ease of navigation, unlike a general website. Uh, that have links to all sorts of things that a donor could go read. A micro-site is designed for simplicity, ease of use, and a focus on the content that you need to express for plain giving. This focus structure. It helps donors. Quickly find the information they need and it. Minimizes the risks that they’re going to get lost or drawn into some other area of your website.
It also provides enhanced SEO by creating a separate micro-site. Uh, you can optimize that content specifically for search engines, for people that are looking for content like that for a nonprofit like yours. Uh, this kind of targeting of SEO, uh, it creates, uh, Method by which you can attract visitors to your website. Who are specifically interested in playing, giving?
And finally, uh, privacy and discretion when donors are considering a significant gift. Privacy can be a major concern. A lot of donors don’t want to have that information out there that they’re giving a big gift to an organization. So a microsite allows for discrete browsing providing information that doesn’t require the donor to navigate through unrelated content or pages. Uh, it allows your. Uh, donors to look for confidential information. Uh, that they might communicate with your organization’s plan, giving advisors.
Another note, another thing that you should consider I, your organization is cross-training. All of your donor reps and whether or not they’re on the phones, whether they’re mid-level donor reps or they’re working with a major donor caseload. Cross train all of them to understand the elements of plan giving and how someone might make a plan to gift to your organization. Uh, it’s really not enough nowadays to have just a dedicated plan giving department.
And that’s the only people that speak with donors around playing giving. Uh, you need, uh, to educate your other major donor reps and your mid-level donor reps. So they understand at least the basics of the concepts of plan giving and could have. Fruitful conversations with donors that are interested in playing, getting options for their giving.
Plain getting conversations that can be. Transformative. Uh, for your organization for your donors. When you focus on the donor’s legacy. And you use stories. Stories of beneficiaries stories of other donors have given plane gifts. Then it really helps simplify the process for donors. Uh, you can use that to create a sense of urgency, but not pressure donors into giving a gift right now. Uh, and you can elevate your conversations with donors so they understand. In a simple way, the complexity plain giving. And they kind of impacted, they’re going to have on the lives of the people that you’ve served together.
Take some time, uh, to review this information, to look through some of the articles on nonprofit fundraising.com. And to go download that great resource@nonprofitfundraising.com slash mid-level. Where you can get a communications toolkit for mid-level donors. Mid-level donors can become some of your best plan. Giving prospects and playing givers. Uh, to your organization. So I hope that you found this episode helpful and that as you have those planned giving conversations that you’re able to prepare better. And have a better conversation with donors to make a bigger impact that you can raise more money to help more people. Thanks.
