Is Your Nonprofit Ready to Start a Planned Giving Program?

Have you ever gone to the grocery store three times while making dinner?

It’s the worst! You’re measuring the ingredients when suddenly you realize that you’re missing a crucial ingredient. Off to the store you go, only to return home and realize you forgot sour cream (or something else you can’t go without!). 

Eventually dinner gets on the table and it is yummy, but…

You spent more time, money, and energy than you had planned — or was necessary. As a result you never got to clean up your house and you still need to set the table!

When churches and faith-based nonprofits don’t have a planned giving program they spend more time, money, and energy trying to reach their fundraising goals than is planned and necessary. On top of all that, they miss out on valuable opportunities to serve others because they’re scrambling to make ends meet. 

Friend, if that’s you, I want you to know that God has given us — including YOU — more than enough. Living and serving others from a place of abundance is absolutely possible. 

Throughout my 30+ year career as a CFRE I have seen dozens of churches and faith-based nonprofits experience this abundance by creating and sustaining a legacy giving program. 

There are five ingredients every organization has that starts a successful legacy giving program. Keep reading to find out if your organization has what it takes to start a legacy giving program!

You Have Loyal Supporters

Do you know people for whom church is their second home? 

Can you name the people who voluntarily show up early to set up for events and stay late to clean up? 

Those are the people who are most likely to leave a legacy gift with your organization. In fact, 80% of bequest donors have made 15 or more during lifetime gifts (Russell James). In a congregational setting, this more likely translates to persons who have given for 15 or more years. 

Legacy gifts aren’t about someone's capacity or how much wealth they seem to have. Instead legacy gifts are more about someone’s consistency and faithfulness of support at any level. In other words, loyalty is a better indicator than high capacity when it comes to legacy giving. 

If someone believes in what you do and has faithfully invested in your work, the chances that they would value the opportunity to bless your organization upon their death is high. However, these people need guidance to leave a legacy with their gifts and they need to know you welcome them!

Simply put, you are ready to start a legacy giving program if you have any number of long-time and frequent donors. Not only are you ready, but chances are your supporters are ready for you to guide them along a legacy giving journey. 

Your People Are Ready to Give These Gifts

Giving gifts feels so good, doesn’t it?

As a parent, I notice at Christmas time each year how much better it is to give than to receive. I literally can not wait for my daughters to wake up Christmas morning and open their gifts — it’s way more exciting to me than opening my own!

We’re in the midst of an era of incredible giving. It’s called the Great Wealth Transfer. What this means is that over the next 20-25 years 45 million households will cumulatively pass on $73 trillion from one generation to the next! Cerulli Associates estimates that $10-$12 trillion of that will go to charity. 

Just to help you get your head around this mammoth number, these estate gifts alone will provide an average of $476 million to nonprofits each year — a number equivalent to the total of all charitable giving in 2021. Total giving from bequests alone will be comparable to total giving from all other sources of donations combined — individuals, corporations, foundations, etc. 

According to research by FreeWill, this staggering transfer of wealth is made possible by a few characteristics of the Baby Boomer generation:

• 50% more people than the previous generation
• A dramatically increased number of female Baby Boomers joined the workforce, resulting in twice as many wage earners
• Wage earners had a significantly higher education than previous generations
• Earnings were invested during an incredibly robust time in the market, which resulted in a significantly higher return on investment
• The value of Baby Boomer homes has appreciated dramatically 

Additionally, the baby boomer generation had less children than previous generations which concentrates wealth per child. Baby Boomers were also more likely than other generations to have no children. 

In other words, your organization is ready to start a legacy giving program because your donors are ready to give — they have been blessed and, more than likely, they are looking for who they can bless others by leaving a legacy. 

Your Organization has a Clear Vision

Remember the days of MapQuest where we had to print out our directions before we got in the car? 

If we were going to a new place we needed to know where we were going before we started driving! 

When it comes to fundraising, having a vision for your ministry is like having MapQuest directions to a new destination. A vision clarifies where you’re going and how you’re going to get there. 

A clear vision also plays a powerful role in inspiring donors to leave a legacy with you in three ways:

• Loyal donors are more likely to entrust you with a future gift if they can see the future impact you will make. A clear vision communicates to your donors that you’re the kind of steward who invests the talents they are given instead of burying them!

• Inviting new donors is easier when you articulate and communicate a strategic direction and clear vision for your organization. A strategic and clear vision changes what donors hear from “please give us money,” to “please join us in making [insert clear vision] happen!”

• The bigger and clearer the vision the better. Supporters like a big vision because it gives them something to invest in — be a part of. Brett Hagler, cofounder of New Story, put it this way: “Bold ideas attract bold people.” In other words, the bigger the vision the bigger the gift. 

Having a clear vision as an organization is an indicator that you are ready to start a legacy giving program because you know where you’re going and you can invite donors to help you get there!

You Receive 10% or Less of Your Annual Income From Bequests

Do you remember the parable of the talents? 

A master gave three stewards money to care for while he was away. Two stewards invested the money and the master rewarded them. One steward buried the money and he was dismissed from service. 

As stewards of the resources God has given us we are called to not just protect what we have been given but to invest and multiply what we have. 

10% of all charitable giving in the US comes through gifts at death. Well established organizations (e.g. colleges, hospitals) are receiving 20%. Most faith-based nonprofits are receiving something far less — not realizing the blessings God provides through these gifts.

Having less than 10% of your annual income from bequests also means your charitable gift income streams are probably not diversified enough —you depend too much on too few gift sources!

In other words, if you’re NOT receiving at least 10% of your annual income from bequests, you’re leaving money on the table, limiting your impact, and leaving your financial future in limbo.

It’s time for faith-based nonprofits to diversify their charitable gift incomes, invite larger and more sustainable gifts, and help their donors invest in things they cherish. 

You Know One Other Person Who Will Lead With You

Do you remember the wisdom from Ecclesiastes: “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward…”? 

I like the way the Contemporary English Version puts it. It says “You are better off to have a friend than to be all alone, because then you will get more enjoyment out of what you earn. If you fall, your friend can help you up. But if you fall without having a friend nearby, you are really in trouble.” 

Having a companion for this journey is in your best interest and your organization’s best interest for many reasons, but we will highlight four here: 

• Two can better share the load. 
• Two are going to bring a broader skill set.  
• Two are going to bring a wider network of relationships.
• Two ensures some continuity of leadership when one or the other is passing through a challenging season of life. 

Two people need to co-champion the start of your legacy giving program.

In most organizations, one of the two is your chief executive or your lead pastor.  This is the leader hired by your governing body to fulfill the organization’s mission and direct its day-to-day operations. He or she is the public face of the ministry that will imbue trust among those who may potentially become legacy givers.

The second champion is most likely a trusted current or former member of your board – someone whose long-term stake in the ministry might very well surpass that of the chief executive or the lead pastor. 

Oftentimes, this is a former board chairperson, campaign chairperson, stewardship committee chairperson – someone whose dedication to your mission will inspire their unapologetic encouragement of legacy giving, and someone who would be the most likely to make a legacy gift themselves.

If you can identify one person to spearhead this project with you, you’re ready to start a legacy giving program (and you’ve conquered the first step in building a legacy giving work group!).

Learn How Brenda Moore and Associates Can Help You Launch Your Legacy Giving Program

If you want to learn more about legacy giving or are ready to get serious about launching a legacy giving program for your ministry check out The Champion’s Toolkit. 

Once you’re convinced a legacy giving program is right for your organization you may need to convince your board. In this toolkit you’ll find valuable resources to help your board see the importance of launching a legacy giving program.

The Champion's Toolkit includes:

• a bequest worksheet to calculate your ministry's gift potential
• a 10 step checklist to show your board the ministry is ready to take this step
• a less-than-five-minute video of what a legacy giving program can do for your ministry! 

Legacy giving truly has the potential to double your organization's annual income in the next 20-30 years. How would that impact the trajectory of your ministry?!

If you’re ready to launch, my team and I would be honored to guide you on your journey. Schedule a call HERE to see if we’re a good fit!

If you’re still on the fence or want to know how you can get your ministry ready to start a legacy giving program we’d love to answer your questions, too. Schedule a call with us HERE.