How to Invite Planned Gifts During A Campaign

When you hear the word “campaign” does your brain immediately begin navigating a CVS-receipt-long list of technicalities?

Pause your brain! The reason I love inviting planned gifts during a campaign (and what makes them successful) is because they are highly relational — more relational than technical. Anyone who takes the time to invest in relationships, which development professionals tend to excel at, can do this work. Here’s what I mean…

Shortly after Don was diagnosed with a terminal illness, he and his wife Dee, began attending New Life Lutheran Church where Pastor Mary had recently begun to serve. Dee was quick to introduce herself to Pastor Mary and a beautiful friendship between the three of them began. During one of Pastor Mary’s visits Dee and Don shared with her that the church community meant so much to them that they wanted to put the church in their will. 

As Don’s illness progressed so did his interest in the future of the church. Pastor Mary shared about the church’s need to begin a capital campaign to care for some long overdo maintenance. This was exactly the thing that Don and Dee wanted to support. They offered to cover the cost of a consultant to walk Pastor Mary and the church through a capital campaign. Dee and Don used a gift from their assets to hire me as a consultant. 

During the planning process Don passed away. Pastor Mary diligently stayed in touch with Dee and updated her on the campaign's progress. As she grieved Don’s passing Dee believed one of the best ways to honor his passing was to get involved with the campaign. She jump started the campaign with a $100k gift, again from assets. After that she began telling individuals of similar age about the opportunity to make meaningful gifts through assets. 

As the campaign drew to close the congregation was $200k short. Dee gave another anonymous $100k matching gift, once again from assets and the campaign reached their goal. Today this church is in the midst of a second campaign. Many of the conversations Dee started during the first campaign are turning into gifts for this new campaign. But all this started with the pastor being a pastor…walking alongside people in the toughest times and becoming such a trusted friend that Dee and Don wanted to do something beautiful. All Pastor Mary needed to do was walk them through the process.

You can do this work. If the technicalities still feel overwhelming, stick with me. Throughout this article I’m going to walk you through what to do before, during, and after a capital campaign to get the full benefit of integrating planned giving into your fundraising. If you’re worried that inviting planned gifts will destroy your campaign’s success read this article.

How to Invite Planned Gifts During a Campaign

There are three phases to inviting planned gifts during a campaign: before, during, after. Each phase has three major components.

As you’re reading through the following steps, keep in mind that campaign readiness plays a significant role in campaign success. Most campaigns would be successful if ministries made sure they were ready to launch a campaign before they started. Learn about campaign readiness HERE >>> Are You Ready for a Capital Campaign?

Before Step #1: Clarify Your Current and Future Financial Model

Clarify your ministry's current and future financial model so that you can fully understand, plan for, and communicate the financial impact that legacy gifts can provide. Planned gifts and endowments aren't safety nets any more. 

Planned gifts and bequests have the potential to provide half of your total gift income in the future (Cerulli Associates). Ministries with endowments and planned gift expectancies are better positioned for taking calculated risks on things like new ministry development and mortgages. All that to say, planned gifts should be part of your organization’s financial plan.

Before Step #2: Visit Your Significant Donors

Securing a planned gift takes time; rightly so. Individuals who make planned gifts have the capacity to give because they have spent a lifetime stewarding their resources. It is crucial that you begin visiting your most loyal donors (those who have given faithfully and regularly, not necessarily the most), and the donors who are already using assets like IRAs, stock, and DAFs to support your work. 

If you wait until campaign time to get to know these donors, you'll probably raise half of what’s possible. Remember, Pastor Mary had formed a great relationship with Dee and Don before the campaign started. And the conversations Dee had with individuals during the campaign didn’t materialize into gifts until the second campaign. These kinds of gifts require trust and time.

During your “before” conversations you should be asking questions that help you discover:

• Your donor’s motivations for supporting your ministry
• Your donor’s hopes and dreams for the future of your ministry (this will also inform your campaign planning and your endowment planning)
• The wealth that God has entrusted to your donors and the assets that could make great campaign gifts and legacy gifts

Learn the three step system to identify the donors you should be visiting with HERE.

Before Step #3: Get Gift Acceptance and Distribution Policies in Place

Gift acceptance and distribution policies help you protect the resources donors have entrusted you with, honor your donor’s wishes, and prevent you from getting into more complicated gifts than you’re prepared or willing to handle. 

If your endowment fund is going to support missions beyond the church, the day-to-day operating budget of the church, and special projects like new ministry starts, you need to have clearly defined and communicated policies and practices that foster the trust of those who will plan to support this fund with gifts now and later. If you're willing to accept more challenging gifts like real estate but don't want to accept more problematic gifts like timeshares and cemetery plots, you need to make these decisions before you find yourself with a liability rather than an asset.

During

You have clarity around your financial plan, you’ve met with your significant donors, and have guiding policies in place. It’s time to set specific and measurable goals, and start taking action.

During Step #1: Set an Informed Capital Campaign Goal

Establish a campaign goal that takes into account the true capacity of your donors and their ability to make bigger and better gifts of assets. This goal should include taking into account the combined metrics of largest gift history, public known philanthropic and wealth based research, and peer screening. If that last sentence feels like a lot of big words and a complicated method check out this article on the power of campaign feasibility studies.

During Step #2: Establish a Realistic (longer) Campaign Timeline 

Successful campaigns for small congregations these days are more likely to be 5-6 months long, with at least two of those months being dedicated to a lead gifts phase that involves work with donors who can consider larger gifts like planned gifts. Campaigns hoping to raise a larger number of large gifts usually require a year or years. The timeline depends on the volume of staff and volunteers available to visit potential major donors.  

More importantly, major donors have their own timing considerations for making their best gifts, and their trusted advisors are often involved. Larger gifts take a longer time, but the results are well worth the extended timeline.

During Step #3: Establish A System for Scheduling and Making Many Visits

Multiple visits are required to help most donors get to the place where they're ready to make their best, most joy-filled gift. No amount of communication, education, or group meetings can replace the value, impact and faith experience of private gift conversations. 

Donors want and need these meetings both to fully understand and to be fully understood. They want and need the time and space to share private concerns about challenging circumstances. They want a safe place to ask what they might perceive to be “dumb questions” about assets, estate planning, tax benefits, and timing. They want the honor of being personally invited to do something deeply meaningful for a ministry that means so much to them. And they want the joy of sharing their thoughtful, prayerful 'yes.'

After

Your post-campaign priority is to leverage the momentum from your campaign as a launch pad for legacy giving. Don’t let your planned giving momentum fizzle out! If you didn’t have a legacy giving program before your campaign this is a good time to make it official and keep the planned giving ball rolling. 

After Step #1: Get Year-Round Support From Legacy Leaders

The most effective campaigns usually engage many volunteers. Some of them have discovered a natural bent for leadership in planned giving — keep them engaged after the campaign. Invite these volunteers to continue using these gifts to establish and continue a legacy giving program. This will include enlisting, training, and supporting your leaders year-round.

After Step #2: Embed Your Legacy Giving Program into Year-Round Stewardship

As I’ve mentioned before, planned giving takes time for you, the donor, and any financial advisors involved. This makes it imperative to incorporate a legacy giving program into your year-round stewardship plan, not just your capital campaign. Your legacy giving program should include three phases: education, administration, and communication.

After Step #3: Continue Connecting With and Visiting Your Donors

Don't stop seeing the people! There's nothing a donor dislikes more than a visit only when it's time to ask for money. Keep the relationship warm. Keep saying ‘thank you.’ Keep reporting on the impact of their gift. Keep listening for clues about their readiness to consider a legacy gift plan. My colleague and friend Nick implemented a unique “thank you” process with donors while working at Minnehaha Academy. You can learn about it HERE.

How Brenda Moore and Associates Can Help You Get Your Campaign Started

Campaigns are overwhelming to most fundraisers. And planned gifts are overwhelming to most fundraisers. Putting them together in one project can feel paralyzing, but it’s possible and worth it!  

If you see the powerful potential of incorporating planned gifts into your capital campaign, but don’t know where to start, schedule a call with us HERE. We have consultants who specialize in campaigns and would be honored to help you discern your next step.

Co-authored by Brenda Moore, CFRE and Samantha Roose.