Convert Planned Estate Donors to Major Gift Donors

Convert Planned Estate Donors to Major Gift Donors

by Tom Wilson Major Gifts Guru

For years, I've been an advocate for every fundraising office doing basic planned estate gift fundraising. Knowing that 87% of all planned gifts come by way of a simple estate gift, then all of us can start a wills and bequests program.

The usual path is creating a legacy society or heritage club to honor people who have made a planned estate gift to your organization.

If you're in campaign mode, or as time goes on you want to have each legacy society member estimate what the size of their commitment to your organization will be. This enables you to check on how they made their gift and to determine what opportunities there are for revaluing the estate.

For example, one lady I talked with said she didn't have a big estate. As I looked around her dated, but wonderful home in the hills overlooking the city, I asked her what about her house. She said it wasn't worth much, just $16,000. I asked again and she said yes, she and her late husband had paid $16,000 65 years ago. To her, the house wasn't a big asset. To us, in her estate plan, the house was worth well over a million dollars.

So how do you convert planned estate gift donors to major gift donors now?

Keep building your relationship and when the time is right ask if some of the estate gift could be advanced now.

There was a great article in The New York Times recently that captured this concept perfectly. Sandy Weill had already given Cornell University more than $200 million to name the medical school. He had also indicated a sizable bequest of $250 million would be coming as well. With Cornell's endowment hard hit by the market crash, University president David J. Skorton asked 76-year old Weill if he could advance some his estate gift now. Mr. Weill agreed and donated $170 million in cash

According to the Cornell University website: "In completing their gift in December and January, the Weills created the Weill Challenge, which will raise up to $203 million in additional gifts that exclusively support construction of the medical college's new research building."

So, every major gift officer should devote some time to simple planned estate gift fundraising and in converting long-term legacy society donors to major gift donors now.

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