Give and Take

SECURE Act / Note to Clients and Friends

Don't let legislation paralyze your planned giving marketing efforts.

SECURE Act / Webinar

Your donors will be asking about SECURE, so you’d better know the facts and be ready with the answers — all of the answers. You need to position yourself as an expert resource.

Convincing Your Boss and Your Board

What fundraiser has not faced a boss who doesn’t understand how planned gifts work, doesn’t want to learn, and thinks that planned gifts are an “easy out” for donors who should have made an outright gift?

Create a Legacy You’ll Never See

Planned Giving is a way to make an impact and grow a meaningful legacy — both for yourself, and for your favorite nonprofit — in ways that you likely had never imagined.

Trust-Based Fundraising

I'll be blunt: You can get lucky with lust, but you get married and stay married with trust. You’re probably thinking, “What does that have to do with marketing or fundraising?” Well … read on ...

Do For-Profits Raise Planned Gifts?

Do for profits copy nonprofits? Often. Does the nonprofit sector copy the for-profit sector? Not often enough. Read on how being challenged can help our sector.

All You Need is Love

Extreme achievers (musicians, actors, artists, entrepreneurs, athletes ...) have a dark side we don’t often hear about, and sometimes don’t want to hear about. John Lennon was one of them.

Secure Gifts With the SECURE Act

We are studying the SECURE Act and its effects on Philanthropy. We will release our take and advise effective ways you can shift your marketing focus to raise more and larger gifts.

The Future of Planned Giving

Six fundraising experts discuss the future of planned giving and the movement to merge planned giving with major gifts and principal gifts.

The Planned Giving Newslet™

Unlike the traditional planned giving newsletter that is challenging to implement, the Newslet addresses your need to deliver your message in an affordable and expeditious manner.

It’s the Marketing, Stupid.

Most nonprofits have a reversed Darwinian approach to new idea generation. Instead of survival of the “fittest” they strive for survival of the “safest.”

Planned Giving: It's About Legitimacy

Everyone focuses on the importance of planned giving from a financial perspective. When in fact, it's about legitimacy and credibility. If you have both, the money will follow.

Is December a Time to Plan for Year-End Charitable Giving?

Year-end giving appeals are often poorly planned and executed. The best time to begin is between July and September, and making sure that you have a series of "touches" and not just one mailing planned.

Get Rid of Your Job-Hopping Habit Once and For All

Unfortunately, many in this industry are job hoppers. Why? Because truth be told, fundraising takes hard work and commitment, and many who land in fundraising tend to focus more on transactional duties than on doing their real job.

Start your week with a laugh:

Like cell phones, social media and text messages, acronyms have taken over our lives. But we had planned giving acronyms long before the birth of texts. What else does a CRAT stand for? Read and find out.

You Can’t Do It Alone

Study shows what successful people have in common: they spent a lot of time with someone who had been successful. In other words, they learned how to be successful. They had friends, mentors, influencers and coaches.

The Definitive Guide to Planned Giving Newsletters

I am often asked, “Viken, do planned giving newsletters work?” Yes they do, but it is the wrong question to ask.

Want to be a Better Fundraiser? Understand Money

Guess what. You're closer to a millionaire than a millionaire is closer to a billionaire.

Copywriting Lessons from the Church

These funny headlines will make you laugh. And get inspired. Enjoy.

In Other Words…

Again and again, Dr. Russell James found that formal and technical terms reduce the chances that a prospective donor will be interested in making a planned gift. And we've been saying that since 1998. Yet, many nonprofits still do not take the advice.

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Making Estate Planning Accessible, Simple, Personal, Secure and FREE!

Bequests are up, cash is down. Empower your donors to plan their will and invest their legacy in the cause they support the most.

Please reach out. Note: if you give us your mailing address (or PO Box), we’ll send you a complimentary Planned Giving Gift Comparison Chart. 

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