“Direct mail is too expensive,” you say. Well, fine. Use something cheaper that does not work nearly as well.
If you’re not going after planned gifts, the bigger fish next door is. And since planned gifts are gifts from the heart, they inspire more cash gifts, too. This means, if the nonprofit next door wins your planned gifts, your cash gifts will walk out the door, too.
You can’t believe how hard it is for people to be simple, how much they fear being simple. They worry that if they’re simple, people will think they’re simpleminded. In reality, of course, it’s just the reverse. ~ Jack Welch, CEO, General Electric
It’s hard to explain how a Donor Advised Fund works to a donor. And when you try, they’re yawning. This creative marketing copy helps them get the point.
A direct mail campaign that’s not so vanilla. Only in the for-profit world. Would you have had the stomach for it?
A donor can donate a house, get a deduction, live there for life, and receive an annuity from the donation for life. Hmm … does not sound right.
I am amused when a client hires us and then tells us what to do. My favorite inquiry is, “We’d like to send out a planned giving postcard and see if something will happen.”
Remember when news broke that Tiger Woods was cheating — not at golf, but on his wife? The media jumped all over the story.
Are you nurturing your donors? One way to do it is by asking them to tell their story. People like to talk about themselves. It’s natural.
Some people in our industry have made planned giving so moribund that they can put a cat on speed to sleep. Vendors included.