Interview by Patrick O’Donnell, Assistant Editor, Giving Tomorrow Magazine.
How did you get into the planned giving business?
Like most people in the planned giving industry, it was purely accidental. At the time, I had become friends with the Director of Planned Giving at the University of Pennsylvania (my alma mater). As an attorney himself, he admitted that most fundraisers in the industry had difficulty simplifying planned giving. He also gave me the ins and outs of every other vendor (Pentera, Stelter, etc.) in the planned giving business. Both our conclusions were that there had to be a better solution. And it being only three years after Yahoo was born, it was time to Bring Planned Giving to the Internet, which was also our slogan. Our firm at the beginning was called VirtualGiving.
Our new slogan then was, Planned Gifts Can Get Complicated. Marketing Them Shouldn’t Be.
In a nutshell, why is planned giving important?
Watch this video below, which explains the importance of planned giving. We give permission for nonprofits to use it as well. Just embed it on your website and make sure to give us credit.
What’s your life philosophy?
To improve myself every day so I can help improve others.
Give us a marketing philosophy.
Principles govern strategies, strategies rule tactics, and tactics prescribe the appropriate marketing tools, technology and other vectors. There’s so much technology that you’ll get lost unless you have your principles in place.
Why should a nonprofit choose your firm?
We have 25-plus years industry experience to help them attract more and larger planned gifts. And we can help them find their audience, turn prospects into donors, and turn donors into “family.” We understand not just donor relationships, but the importance of marketing — the weakest link within nonprofits, and for-profits for that matter. We’re people-focused, friendly, fun, and easy to do business with. Again, our focus has always been finding innovative ways to market planned gifts. We started in 1999 and were the first to bring planned giving to the internet. We created a brand-new product that worked well and was quickly in demand among leading nonprofits. Their response was very motivating. And what was even more exciting was that other vendors in the planned giving business —who initially mocked our idea—changed their tune when they discovered that it worked. Suddenly, they all sat up, took notice, and started to copy us. They’re still copying our innovations today — and that’s OK, because in the end, it benefits the nonprofit industry we all serve. Plus, isn’t “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”?
How large is your firm?
Our motto is, “we’re large enough to serve you, yet small enough to know you.” We follow sound business principles to keep overhead low. We have just 9 full-time employees, and about 21 part-time freelance contractors on a 1099 basis. Our freelancers, who are all very experienced in the nonprofit industry, ensure we always have fresh ideas coming into our firm. We also outsource our printing. That helps us to keep client printing costs down: We can negotiate the best prices, and we do not have to maintain a high overhead because of traffic managers, mail shop supervisors, several receptionists and administrative staff.
Do you have other sources of income?
No. From the very beginning PlannedGiving.Com has been a “pure play” company. A “pure play” company focuses solely on one type of product or service. It’s one of the many reasons we always strive to do our best and serve our clients well.
Does being so focused have an advantage for your customers?
Absolutely. It allows us to concentrate on what we do best — that’s planned giving marketing, while keeping our top-notch products and services affordable for the nonprofits we serve. Other vendors don’t have that luxury because they need to support other areas of their business. Some began as print shops that were seeking new avenues; they got into the planned giving business to keep their presses running when the world turned increasingly digital. They push outdated, ineffective products like planned giving newsletters, because they’re easy to churn out and provide printing income. Other vendors began as planned giving calculator software companies and added planned giving content later to increase their revenue. Our singular focus on planned giving marketing means we’re not pushing add-on services that could be done in a much more cost-effective manner for our clients.
What was your first job?
When I was 8, I bought a lawn mower. You can guess the rest.
How about your first business?
I was a childhood candy prodigy. During Halloween I circled the neighborhood five times with 5 different masks which I bought with the proceeds from cutting lawns … and sold my excess inventory to my 3rd grade classmates over the next 6 months.
What remains on your bucket list?
Visiting every state and every major national park in the USA; helping more nonprofits, and possibly buying or adopting another Yorkie.
Who is your favorite author?
Too many to list. I read a book a week and there is something to be learned from every book you read.
How about your favorite movie?
Too many to list, but “Being There” with Peter Sellers is up there.
Do you have a favorite comedian?
Ah! Of course. Bob Hope, Fluffy, Peter Sellers, George Carlin, Monty Python. Quite a few more as I love to laugh. In fact, I listen to comedy on my iPad every night before I sleep – that way I wake up laughing to start a new day.
Did you have challenges when you started your planned giving business?
Big time. It was not an easy task, because the industry was not ready to get planned giving online. In those first few years, I recall earning less than $7,000 annually. My wife Olga’s income from her job enabled us to pay the bills.
What made it even tougher was an industry without a vision proclaiming, across the nation, “You can’t get your vision, your mission, and your planned giving message across on a website.” Most fundraisers I encountered were against having a planned giving website. But the same goes for those who laughed at online dating and online grocery shopping!
How do you measure success?
Through feedback I receive from clients and friends who tell me I have made them more successful.
Would you consider yourself very productive?
I would like to think so. I wrote a book on time management, and I try to follow it. It is not easy.
What comes first in your business?
My employees. Treat them right, and they will treat clients right.
Dogs or cats?
Dogs. My Chief Barketing and Communications officer is my pup, Chloe. (See her on LinkedIn.)
What’s a major challenge for nonprofits when it comes to planned giving?
Most fundraisers want to hit the jackpot with a large donation, and therefore procrastinate when it comes to planned gifts. You need patience and some focus. You can’t be shortsighted.
What about the most common mistakes fundraisers make?
They focus on the technical aspects of planned gifts and not the people or relationship side. I think planned giving is 95% a people business and 5% a legal business. You can always outsource the legal stuff. One of our mottos is actually “planned giving is a people business, not a legal business.”
Where should a good fundraiser dedicate their time?
Calling, writing thank-you letters, and getting out the door meeting with donors. Stewardship is key. You can’t close a huge gift on Zoom. At least not yet. But we may be getting there.
Should there always be an “ask?”
In every marketing piece you put out, there should always be a direct or indirect ask. Over 56% of fundraisers in a recent survey preferred not to make such an ask. That’s a big mistake and leaves a lot of money on the table that could instead be funding an endowment.
You lead a successful planned giving marketing firm. Why is marketing so important?
Marketing is used to successfully educate your donors. You can’t make the ask unless you have educated them first. And planned giving marketing requires a special touch, because it’s dealing with a delicate subject: your donor’s eventual death.
What’s the future of planned giving?
The future is exciting. The biggest impact, however, will be in the next 9 to 10 years as the generational wealth transfer takes place. That’s going to make a huge impact on philanthropy. There’s also an opportunity for smaller nonprofits to take advantage of, as giving to higher education is shifting into new areas. Your planned giving marketing needs to rise to the challenge.
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