Give & Take

With 30+ years of planned giving successes in my history, I’m now considered a thought leader in the industry. That's because I learned one crucial lesson: Planned giving is about people. Focus on the people and the rest is easy.

If your administration does not realize the importance of planned giving, your job is to explain it to them. The money is there — and it shows up when people understand the need. Would you ever tell your heart surgeon that his fee is not in your budget?

Do you set daily goals? Do you think multitasking is helpful? Do you know the difference between motion and action? These 8 hacks will get your productivity — and your career — energized.

What's your biggest planned giving marketing challenge? Here's what 12 philanthropy professionals from 11 different parts of the country had to say about theirs.

Companies like to boast about what they do. Apparently, many firms also like to do far more than they should. More and more in the planned giving community I see “marketing” firms promising their clients the world.

Says the panicked board member… until you show him a better way to lower risk.  Has this ever happened to you? A board member or finance officer who is unfamiliar with gift annuities sees a big liability on the books and panics. “Why are we doing this?” they ask. Their concern is understandable. A charity normally pays a donor around 40-60 percent of the original gift in interest. For someone who isn’t familiar with gift annuities, that seems like a very bad way to raise money. Unfortunately, the knee jerk reaction is all to often to pull the plug. Stop issuing CGAs and let the existing pool run its course. But there couldn’t be a riskier solution. Without newer contracts coming in at lower payout rates, it is an actuarial certainly that the program will eventually run out of funds. Then the generous gifts your donors made will be all for naught. Reinsuring does nothing to offload risk.  Non-profit organizations often receive

What is the single biggest excuse people use to not do things they say they want to do? Wait for it... (No pun intended.) "I don’t have time." We’re about to blow that excuse away.

My colleague was at her wits’ end with a donor we’ll call Philip. Everything about Philip screamed MAJOR DONOR OF THE HIGHEST LEVEL! He had all three As of a great donor prospect.

Direct mail is king. But kings can be dethroned. Well-intentioned organizations do it all the time. Avoid these common mistakes to ensure your direct mail campaign is as kingly as it should be.

If your idea of increasing productivity is petitioning the universe to add a few hours to the day, take heart. There are less cosmically improbable ways. Let’s glance at how technology can work in your favor and add hours back into your week.

In a perfect world, all of your benefactors who receive your planned giving mailing will immediately decide it’s a good idea, call their advisor for the go ahead, and then make your institution a gift that changes not only the trajectory of your long-term revenue goals, but your career as well.

There are many smart people walking around with brilliant ideas in their heads, but just a small few of them can manage to take action and make something happen.