Legacy Giving Programs

If your nonprofit leaders ever say things like “Let’s be data-driven.” “Decisions should be evidence-based.” “Show me the numbers.” …then these are the numbers to start with: 2.3%. 60%. 77%. 6X. 50X. They all tell the same story: fundraising that focuses only on cash is stuck in the kiddie pool. Major gifts of assets (a.k.a., planned giving) move you into the ocean. This article collects previous posts explaining the numbers: ·       2.3% of household wealth is held in cash and checkable accounts; stop ignoring the other 97.7% ·       60% of the largest gifts to colleges included no cash ·       77% sustained increase in giving after estate commitment ·       6X faster growth in long-term contributions with asset-based fundraising ·       50X greater likelihood of making asset gifts among legacy society members If you want large, transformational gifts, the data all point in the same direction: move conversations from disposable income to wealth, from cash to assets. Here are the free books/audiobooks/videos to help you do it: The Storytelling Fundraiser (Chapter 6); The Socratic Fundraiser (Chapters 6 & 7); The Biblical Fundraiser (Chapter 4); Visual Planned Giving (All Chapters). All books are free to read at EncourageGenerosity .com https://lnkd.in/dAP9ZPVV or available in print at Amazon.

The 70-year-old donor who's given faithfully for 15 years has never been asked about including you in their will. You're leaving millions on the table. Let me paint you a picture of your biggest missed opportunity: Mrs. Henderson has donated $2,000 every year since 2009. She attends your events, volunteers at your fundraisers, and talks about your organization to her friends. She's 73 years old, has no children, and considers your mission part of her legacy. You've never once mentioned planned giving to her. You're so focused on her annual gift that you've ignored her lifetime gift. You're managing a $2,000 relationship when you could be stewarding a $200,000 opportunity. Meanwhile, Mrs. Henderson is getting planned giving materials from three other nonprofits she supports. They're having conversations about legacy and impact that extend beyond her lifetime. They're positioning themselves as worthy of her most significant gift. You're not even in the conversation. Here's what's tragic: Mrs. Henderson would love to leave a bequest to your organization. She's been waiting for someone to ask her about it. She's been hoping you'd recognize that her faithful giving indicates deeper commitment. But you've never brought it up because planned giving feels "too aggressive" or "too complicated" or "too morbid." Your discomfort with legacy conversations is costing your organization transformational gifts from your most loyal supporters. Stop treating your long-term donors like annual fund prospects. Start treating them like the legacy partners they want to become. Because in fundraising, the gifts that change everything often come from the donors you've known the longest, not the ones you are hoping to meet.

Every nonprofit leader I speak to sighs when I mention multi year funding. We all know the grind: you land a grant, celebrate for a moment, then rush straight back onto the hamster wheel looking for the next cheque. It is exhausting, and not sustainable. The good news is that multi year funding exists, and more funders are seeing that lasting change needs long term investment. But you cannot pitch it the same way as a one year project. You need to show three things: Purpose, People and Proximity. Purpose: Funders back clarity. Spell out the long term difference your work will make and why their support matters over several years, not just twelve months. People: Demonstrate capacity. Show that your team, systems, and governance can spend and govern resources responsibly and adapt as the work scales. Multi year support is about trust. Donors want to see that you have the right people in place to deliver. Proximity: Bring funders close to the story. Share evidence of strong relationships with communities and partners, and invite funders into that journey. The closer they feel to the impact, the more willing they are to walk with you for the long haul. When you weave these three threads through your proposal, you give funders confidence that their commitment will multiply results over time. Multi year funding stabilises programmes, frees up energy for impact, and deepens relationships on both sides. Think of it like planting an orchard: one year’s grant buys seedlings, but three years of support nurtures trees sturdy enough to bear fruit season after season. 🌱🍊 How are you positioning your organisation for multi year funding?

The nonprofit sector is at a crossroads. Total charitable giving in the U.S. grew 3.5% in 2024 — yet the number of donors dropped by 4.5% (Fundraising Effectiveness Project). This paradox is dangerous. If fewer people are giving, even rising dollar amounts can’t sustain long-term growth. So where’s the opportunity? 👉 Mid-level donors. Often defined as those giving $5,000–$50,000 annually (though the range flexes by organization), mid-level donors are: ✨ Loyal supporters who already believe in your mission. ✨ Financially savvy — many have stock, real estate, or estate planning on their minds. ✨ Hungry for meaningful engagement and smarter giving options. Yet, too often, they fall through the cracks between annual fund and major gifts. Here’s how to change that: 1️⃣ Tailor your stewardship. Recognize them as a distinct segment. Simple, personal touches go a long way. 2️⃣ Offer access + education. Small-group briefings or virtual sessions with leadership can spark deeper commitment. 3️⃣ Provide flexible giving options. Stock gifts, charitable gift annuities, and bequests help them give meaningfully without sacrificing financial security. ✅ When engaged intentionally, mid-level donors give more, give longer, and are more likely to include your nonprofit in their estate plans. They also tend to be more resilient during economic downturns.

The majority of your current donors will be gone within 20 years. That isn’t morbid. It’s demographics. And it should affect how you lead. In one recent donor file review, a client realized that well over half of their most loyal donors were already past traditional retirement age. For years, they had thanked them for annual gifts but had never invited them to consider a legacy gift. Not because they were indifferent, but because they didn’t want to “make anyone uncomfortable.” They "didn't want to talk about death." Here are the facts: - Avoiding legacy conversations doesn’t protect relationships. It simply ensures that many donors will never be asked to make the most meaningful gift of their lives. A thriving legacy giving program is not about pushing complex tax tools. It’s about three simple commitments: - Honor your donors’ stories. Give them space to reflect on what shaped them and how they want to be remembered through their giving. - Normalize the conversation. Talk about bequests, beneficiary designations, and endowments the same way you talk about monthly giving or major gifts, as a natural next step in a generous life. - Protect your mission’s future. Use legacy commitments to build reserves and endowments so the people you serve aren’t at the mercy of next year’s budget or the next downturn. If most of your donors will be gone within two decades, the real question isn’t, “Should we build a legacy program?” It’s: When will your donors hear from you about it? #PlannedGiving #Fundraising #Nonprofits #Endowment #Legacy

Amid Existential Threats To Some, All Should Consider Revenue Diversification While our colleagues in foreign aid are suffering uncertain funding futures (which I've posted to help them with), the entire community can recognize the value of diverse revenue sources. One of those is Planned Giving fundraising. Planned Giving raises money from donors' long-term plans, like wills, by far the most popular planned gift, and among the easiest. Your best prospects for a gift by will, or charitable bequest, are your committed, loyal donors. A gift in a donor's will, demonstrates their love of your work. They've put you alongside their spouse or partner, children and grandchildren. These are long-term gifts to your nonprofit. They bring cash to your org at the death of the donor. And because the vast majority of gifts in wills are unrestricted, they're a valuable vehicle for launching or growing your endowment. Those in the community facing an immediate-term funding crisis, can't focus on Planned Giving now. Put it in your back pocket. Amid the crisis for some, all the rest of us should recognize the value of promoting diverse sources of revenue, including Planned Giving for the long term.

Charitable giving is a great tax savings strategy implemented by many philanthropists with big pockets. Some of the best methods: 1. Donate appreciated assets directly to charities. If you donate stocks, bonds, real estate, or other long-term appreciated assets (held over a year), you avoid owing capital gains taxes on appreciation and can deduct the full fair market value as a charitable deduction (generally up to 30% of your adjusted gross income). 2. Use donor-advised funds (DAFs). Contribute cash or appreciated assets to a DAF and take an immediate deduction, while retaining flexibility to advise on distributions to charities in future years. The assets can grow tax-free within the fund, and DAFs make “bunching” or multi-year donation strategies easier. 3. Bunch or aggregate multiple years of giving. Concentrate several years’ worth of donations into a single tax year to exceed the standard deduction threshold, allowing you to itemize and maximize deductions in higher-income years, then claim the standard deduction in off years. 4. Make qualified charitable distributions (QCDs) from IRAs (age 70½+). QCDs go directly from your IRA to a charity, counting towards required minimum distributions but not increasing taxable income. These aren't deductions - they lower your adjusted gross income and potentially reduce the taxes paid on Social Security and Medicare premiums. 5. Charitable estate planning. Designate charities as beneficiaries in your will, retirement plans, or trusts, effectively removing those assets from your taxable estate and possibly reducing or eliminating estate taxes. 6. Charitable trusts. For complex or large giving plans, vehicles such as charitable remainder trusts and charitable lead trusts can provide income, generate immediate tax deductions, and ultimately benefit charitable organizations.

There is lots of strategic planning to be done surrounding standard vs. itemizing deductions. Many are guilty of blindly relegating the choice to software each year. A little bit of multi-year planning though can go a long way in saving thousands each year for taxpayers. Picture this, for example...A charitably inclined business owner in a state with state tax. I'd normally assess whether the taxpayer would benefit from a strategy where they plan to itemize one year and take the standard the next or next couple. In the itemizing year - They could double (or triple) giving (leveraging a DAF if needed), utilize up to $40k of state tax deductions as an itemized assuming within the income range (without using PTE which decreases the QBI deduction). In the non-itemizing year - They could limit donations to $1-2k (to maximize the new non-itemizers charitable deduction. On the state tax side, they could elect into PTE, still reaping much of the benefit of a state tax deduction by getting to expense it federally against business income. No one I've come across regularly thinks creatively like this to orchestrate seemingly unrelated attributes of a taxpayer's financial world to save thousands on taxes with a mere timing difference to activities they're already doing! Obviously, it's vital to assess this strategy against many different variables which could make it unfavorable (QBI phase out thresholds, other itemized deductions available, amount of state tax, liquidity, etc.). This is all also most powerfully done in tandem with a financial planner.

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙂𝙞𝙛𝙩 𝙄𝙨𝙣’𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙀𝙣𝙙, 𝙄𝙩’𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝘽𝙚𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜. Most nonprofits stop at the donation. But strong fundraising isn’t just about the ask— It’s about what comes after the gift. If you want long-term support, here’s what that actually takes: 1️⃣ Say thank you like it matters. Make it personal. Make it timely. Make it clear how their gift helps. 2️⃣ Follow up with purpose. Share what their gift did, not just that it was received. People want to see impact. 3️⃣ Engage beyond the ask. Don't just show up when you need money. Invite them into the work. Share stories, wins, and lessons. 4️⃣ Make it relational, not transactional. Donors aren’t dollar signs. They’re people. Treat them like valued partners. 5️⃣ Build a system. Consistent follow-up isn’t random. Track it. Schedule it. Make it a priority. 👉🏾The truth: Fundraising is relationship work. If you treat it like a one-time transaction, don’t be surprised when support doesn’t last. 📌 Stewardship is strategy. 📌 Retention is impact. 📌 Donors are your community—not just your cash flow.

In 2024 alone, Americans donated a record-breaking $592.50 billion to charity—$1.62 billion every single day. Yet, here’s the overlooked engine behind long-term impact: planned giving. Most people picture planned gifts as something only for the ultra-wealthy or as a last act. The reality? Planned giving is a strategic tool that lets almost anyone create an enduring legacy—often without writing a check today. Consider these approaches: A simple bequest in your will can multiply your lifetime giving—industry analysis shows a typical planned gift can be 200 to 300 times larger than a donor’s largest annual gift. No need for complex arrangements. Naming your favorite charity as a beneficiary on a retirement account or life insurance policy may take just minutes. One recent donor made a modest annual gift for years—and through a simple bequest, her final legacy was more than 50 times her typical yearly gift. That one decision will sustain programs for a generation. Planned giving isn’t just about the future—it’s about making sure your values ripple forward, far beyond what’s possible today. What questions or experiences do you have with legacy giving? Are you exploring ways to amplify your long-term impact?