How to Approach Donor Stewardship in Planned Giving

Jeff Schreifels 

Impact reporting is essential to donor retention. But how do you report on the impact of a future gift? How do you effectively steward your planned giving donors? On this podcast episode, we’ll go over best practices in legacy donor stewardship so that your donors remain connected to your organization, and confident in the difference that their gift will make.

Recorded 

Welcome to the Nothing But Major Gifts podcast from Veritus Group featuring Richard Perry and Jeff Schreifels. Twice a month, we bring you the latest and best thinking about major gift fundraising so you can develop authentic relationships with your major donors. Here are your hosts, Richard and Jeff.

Jeff Schreifels 

Welcome to the podcast episode. Today, I have Richard Perry with me and Bob Shafis, our Director of Planned Giving Services. You know, a question we get all the time is about how you should approach stewardship with your planned giving donors. Now, Richard, I know stewardship is extremely important in planned giving. But what makes it so challenging?

Richard Perry 

Well, I tell you, it’s challenging because it can be difficult to figure out the right strategy here. I mean, there’s different types of planned gifts. And that means different stewardship approaches. And you know, Bob’s going to explain all of that in a second. But with such high attrition in planned giving, I mean, donors not following through on a gift, to reducing it significantly. I mean, 50% of the people like actually change their plans along the way. So I mean, it’s critical to think about how you will steward and report back on impact with the planned giving donor.

Jeff Schreifels 

Exactly. And that’s why I’m so glad we have Bob here. So I’m going to start by asking you, Bob, the same question. Why do you think it’s challenging to steward planned giving donors?

Robert Shafis 

Thanks, Jeff. And I agree with everything Richard was just saying there. I think many non-profits think that once they’ve secured a planned gift, hey, that’s it. Yeah, when in reality, these donors need to continue to have a close connection to your organization. Now, as only the planned giving guy can do, I actually have an app on my phone that figures out life expectancies. So you know, we’re always dealing with people who are at the older end of your donor spectrum, but somebody who’s 75 years old, if they’re a male, they have a life expectancy of 15.5 years, and a female has a life expectancy of 17 years. So that means you are really engaging in a long-term stewardship approach with all of your planned giving donors.

Robert Shafis 

Now there are some studies that show that people actually create their first estate plans in their early to mid 40s. And often their first charitable gifts in those plans in their 50s. But estate plans are often changed right up until the last two to five years before the person’s death, and that’s a lot of time to change your mind. And potentially lose connection with an organization that you used to really love. Actually, most testamentary gifts are actually put in the estate plan two to five years before death as well. So you have this dual stewardship issue: how do you steward the people that you know, have done something in their plans? And how do you keep your other donors close to the organization, so that when they are putting together their final estate plans, your organization is front of mind? It can also feel overwhelming to know how to approach creating a stewardship plan when you can’t actually show the donors their gifts in action.

Richard Perry 

Well, okay, so let’s just talk. I mean, one thing, Bob, I’m glad to know that life expectancy stuff because now I know, I’ve got more years than I thought I had. But anyway, let’s talk about that last thing you just said, because listeners of ours who’ve been around a while, they know that reporting back on impact is one of the things we talk about all the time in current giving, because I mean, it’s so important. So how do you how do you approach stewardship for a gift that hasn’t actually come in yet? I mean, it’s kind of weird. How do you do it?

Robert Shafis 

That’s a great question. And we actually recently did an episode on legacy societies, which has some really good information as well. So I encourage people to check that out, but outside of a legacy or bequest society, one of the best ways to steward a planned gift donor is to show them what their money will do in the future. They should always be given information about the programs that most interest them and show them how it’s making a difference, and let them hear firsthand from staff and others about the effect of the program, including program staff. Those are always the people that we want our donors to hear from. Personal reports and letters from those impacted by the programs the donor’s interested in are among the most effective strategies to assure the continued support in their plans.

Robert Shafis 

Now, there’s some other methods which are really useful, including something that I think every planned gift donor really wants. And that’s a behind the scenes opportunity to see how the organization is doing things. Planned-giving-donor-only receptions at events, and private meetings with key staff, you know, as with many things, that answer depends on the type of charity, the structure and management of the charity, and the opinion of the donor base. That can really differ from organization to organization. And if you’re a theater or a museum, that is one type of behind the scenes opportunities, but if you’re like a healthcare organization or social services organization, you may have to do a little more creative thinking on how you’re going to give your donors, those types of connections. And having said that, for the most part, charities should still consider having a legacy society or a planned giving society because that helps people self-identify towards something within your organization.

Jeff Schreifels 

That’s good stuff. But what are some other ways you see organizations really creatively stewarding their planning giving donors?

Robert Shafis 

Well, sometimes a donor has a space named after them in the institution, or position named for them. And these are really great opportunities, the donor can visit the space, get reports about how it’s being used, or have the holder of the position contact the donor. “Hello, Mr. Mrs. Donor. I’m John Smith, dean of engineering. And I just wanted to thank you today for what you’ve done.” Now, it’s important to also make sure that you ask your donors before you do anything public, like publishing a list of planned gift donors, either on the wall of the charity or in some printed materials or increasingly on websites.

Richard Perry 

So like, okay, so what if the donor wants to remain anonymous? I mean, what do you do, then?

Robert Shafis 

That’s easy. You simply say, that’s absolutely no problem. Let them do it. And then you steward them just like any other planned gift. You might have to ask their permission to do that. But that’s okay. What’s important, is making sure the donor feels closely connected to the charity, and that you have an opportunity to make that happen.

Jeff Schreifels 

All right, so now that our listeners understand the importance and need for a stewardship plan, what are some tips you can provide to help them actually make it happen?

Robert Shafis 

Okay, well, you know, none of this just happens out of thin air. Yeah, it requires planning, and budgeting to make sure there’s an effective stewardship plan. And, in my mind, a stewardship plan is much like a marketing plan. And there may even be some significant overlap. But it’s the best way to assure that you’ve spelled out what will happen to recognize these donors. And once it’s been put together, you’ll know what all the events are, what type of reports are necessary, what other documents and strategies are going to happen in the year ahead, along with its cost.

Robert Shafis 

Now, at Veritus Group, one of the things we strongly recommend for an organization that’s implementing this kind of stewardship is that to be implemented by an assigned staff person, such as a planned giving associate for stewardship. By making sure that the plan is implemented, this staff person can focus on making sure that everyone who requires stewardship is getting it, and that the planned giving officer can then focus on raising more gifts. Since the donor usually has the best relationship with the planned giving or major gift officer, they should be part of that stewardship plan so that they continue to occasionally contact the donor. However, they need to remain focused on raising new planned gifts from their assigned portfolio.

Jeff Schreifels 

That’s great. Now, one thing you mentioned earlier, is that planned gifts can change pretty frequently. So what do you recommend for keeping in touch with donors about that plan?

Robert Shafis 

There’s actually a really simple strategy, but it’s really important to use it and that is to reconfirm with them every now and then. Simply acknowledge the fact that people do change their minds and circumstances change and asset mixes change. And you just want to reconfirm with them that their commitment is still present. And that actually is a really great way to not only steward them, but to help them remember that it’s important to keep that in their plans.

Richard Perry 

Yeah. And then you just stay present in their minds as well instead of like disappearing, you know, right, very severe. So, okay, Bob. So any final words of wisdom on this topic before we wrap up?

Robert Shafis 

Well, I want to give some encouragement about what can happen when there’s good stewardship of a planned gift. One thing I didn’t mention is that it’s really important to keep a relationship with a married couple, not just one person, because when the first person in a married couple passes away, the gift of the charity usually is expected to take place when the second spouse passes away. Do you have a good relationship with both spouses and with the surviving spouse? If you steward these people correctly, your likelihood of seeing a matured planned gift is going to be much more probable.

Jeff Schreifels 

Okay, well, there you have it, how to effectively steward your planned giving donors. We’ve talked about why stewarding your donors is so important, some ways to approach this beyond a legacy or bequest society, and then how to set yourself up for success and how to plan for stewardship. Now, if you’d like to learn more about how to start a planned giving program more broadly, I highly recommend that you check out our free white paper on how to start a successful planning company program. In this resource, Bob shares about creating a planned giving society and other key aspects of creating buy-in and ensuring your success in planned giving.

Jeff Schreifels 

Okay, thanks so much, Bob, for spelling this out in detail. And by the way, Bob is available to help you get your planned giving society started. If you’re looking to partner or a guide for you in this process, just contact our colleague Amy Chapman to get the conversation started, about how we can support your planned giving efforts. So thank you for joining us today and for this conversation, and we look forward to partnering with you in your planned giving program. Take care.

Richard Perry 

Thanks.

Robert Shafis 

Thanks.

Recorded 

Thank you for joining us for the Nothing But Major Gifts podcast from Veritus Group. Richard and Jeff also write an ongoing blog that you can subscribe to for free at veritusgroup.net. Please join us again next time.