Give & Take

The Digital Marketing Myth Are you relying exclusively on digital tools to run your planned giving program? Think again. Many fundraisers and now advisors depend entirely on outsourced electronic solutions—tax reference libraries, gift law articles, automated emails, and complex calculators—while abandoning proven traditional methods. This shortsighted approach undermines fundraising effectiveness. As someone deeply involved in digital marketing myself, I offer this perspective with firsthand knowledge of both its power and limitations. Learning From Digital Giants Consider Google—the undisputed leader in online advertising. If any organization could succeed using exclusively digital marketing, it would be Google. Yet Google consistently employs sophisticated direct mail campaigns to acquire new customers. Meanwhile, fundraisers expect to attract planned giving prospects with online reference libraries about gift laws? Planned giving isn’t Entertainment Weekly—donors aren’t eagerly awaiting the next update. The Youth Misconception “But my prospects are young and digitally savvy,” you might argue. They’re constantly on

I was invited to speak at a national charity conference with over 800 attendees. Some of them were Directors of Operations and even Chief Executive Officers. So where the heck were all the leadership types hiding? The conference had something for everyone—operations, finance, strategy, and even high-level fundraising philosophy. It was a huge success. Except for my session on planned giving marketing. Read on. The room was filled with enthusiastic young fundraisers, which was great to see. Planned giving represents the robust future of fundraising, yet many smaller programs are still weak in this area. Some are even scared to touch it—let alone read about it. So, I kicked things off with some myth-busting: “Many consultants, vendors, and fundraisers make their living by overcomplicating planned giving,” I declared. “I’m here to simplify it. It’s not rocket science. And if anyone tells you it is, run the other way.” (Besides, rocket science itself isn’t doing

Our clients, friends and prospects often ask which term is better to use for their marketing efforts, “Planned Giving” or “Gift Planning”. This is a decades-old dispute and I am getting tired of it. So I decided to write this blog to end the argument. If anyone is ready to spar, sharpen your blade (well, pencil is okay). A few nonprofits have migrated to Gift Planning because it sounds more “sophisticated.” Others argue that Planned Giving has been around too long and it’s time for something “new.” And some “feel” it makes better sense and sounds better. This is all just self-serving theory. [By the way, we own both domains: giftplanning.org and plannedgiving.org; so we do not have a reason to be financially biased in this article.]

Updated January 2, 2026 Transparency Is Its Own Reward In the nonprofit sector, transparency is more than a buzzword—it is a practical discipline that underpins trust, accountability, and donor confidence. Operational openness allows donors and stakeholders to see that an organization is managed responsibly and that contributions are used to further the mission. This was true a decade ago. It is even more true now—because the environment has changed. Donors are more skeptical, information moves faster, and reputations can unravel in public long before any formal investigation concludes. Transparency is no longer “nice.” It is institutional self-defense. What Transparency Used to Mean For years, transparency in nonprofits largely meant disclosure: making information available, publishing reports, and presenting a professional face. That approach still matters, but it is no longer sufficient. Today, donors judge transparency not only by what you publish, but by what you volunteer, what you make easy to

Let’s be honest: direct mail has a branding issue. While your latest planned giving newsletter may be thoughtfully written, beautifully designed, and filled with donor love, to the average person opening their mailbox, it’s just another unsolicited item in a pile of bills, catalogs, and promotional junk. They didn’t ask for it. They don’t expect it. And often, they don’t want it. Simply said, “It’s junk mail.” In fact, there’s a growing grassroots rebellion against mail marketing of all kinds. CatalogChoice.org, for example — a nonprofit “do not send” registry — has helped more than one million individuals and businesses stem the flow of junk mail since its founding in 2007. Your planned giving newsletter may not be “junk” to you — but to a prospect who doesn’t know you or isn’t thinking about charitable estate planning right now? It might be. Which means your carefully crafted message is likely

The more you stress your prospect, the more demands you make upon them, the more likely they are bail on you—that’s donor relations 101. Here are some tips on how to keep ‘em sweet. “Don’t Make Me Think!” Whether we’re talking about one-on-one meetings between you and the potential donor, the manner you describe gift plans in your newsletters, or the navigation on your planned giving website, keep it simple. It’s in your own interest gradually to spoon-feed them easy-to-“get” amounts of data. Anticipate confusions and questions and head them off with cogent explanation. “Don’t Make Me Work so Hard!” Are your donors wearing themselves out trying to get in touch with you? Have you made your email address available on every email and hardcopy communication you have sent them? Have you chosen a URL for your planned giving website that is easy-to-remember and self-explanatory? (Like YourInstitutionGiving.Com, or SupportOurMission.Org.) How about your phone number?

A friend once relayed an anecdote about simple, effective communication that turned out to be a near-perfect teaching moment for fundraisers. Not because it involved a campaign, a brand, or a consultant—but precisely because it didn’t. She was helping out an elderly couple who lived down the hall of her apartment complex. The wife had a serious health condition that had suddenly worsened, leaving her largely confined to bed. My friend stepped in to help them find a hospital-style bed—quickly, and with very limited resources. Clear Communication Beats Clever Messaging To solve the problem, my friend ran a simple want-ad on Craigslist. When she described it to me later, she said: “I didn’t really lay it on thick. I just said it was an older couple, the woman had a health condition, they needed the bed, they didn’t have a lot of money, and asked if anybody could donate one.”

Breaking the Myth: You Don’t Need a Law Degree Let’s dispel one of the biggest myths in fundraising: that planned giving is only for experts with a Harvard Law degree—preferably the kind who believe every problem needs a 20-page policy paper and a new government subcommittee. If you’re a development officer with a strong background in annual or major gifts, and someone has just tapped you to “start a planned giving program,” you might feel the urge to panic. Or worse—you dive into the deep end by attending advanced seminars on charitable lead trusts, gift annuities, and other exotic instruments you’ve never dealt with before. While these technical concepts have their place, they represent only a fraction of what you need to build a successful planned giving program. And too often, this approach leads to “majoring in minors.” We see it all the time: smart, capable fundraisers get overwhelmed by