How to Get Your Colleagues Involved in Legacy Giving
How to Talk with Your Team About Legacy Giving
As a nonprofit professional that wants to build a sustainable legacy program it is very important to build a team around supporting your program. However, not everyone in your organization will feel like you do when it comes to legacy giving. To get your colleagues to rally behind the importance of legacy giving, try these tricks:
Focus on Impact
Legacy gifts are not only for the wealthy; they are gifts that can be for any donor that you have already in your database. When you're working with your staff that communicates with donors everyone should understand that they need to think about the impact of the gift, not the amount. Your staff, especially major gift officers, may only want you to focus on donors that have a greater amount of wealth, but you're doing a disservice to the organization and to your donors that may have the capacity to make a legacy gift using assets other than current wealth or income.
Keeping it Simple
Legacy gifts don't have to be complicated. You can do them very, very simply. There are some legacy gifts your donors could do in a matter of minutes. It does not have to be complicated for the donor and does not have to be complicated for the organization in order to close the gift. If you are concerned about closing more complicated gift options, you don’t have to offer them or you can have an advisor to help you with them as they may come in.
Marketing Message
These gifts don't just happen. If you have a marketing team, you need to work with them to create a strategic plan for your marketing and communications for planned giving. It doesn't have to be a separate plan. You can insert it in your existing communications. If you're consistent with your marketing message, donors will begin to inquire about their options.
It holds true for every organization doing these legacy gifts-- the more you grow your program, the more you could add to it with the complexity of gifts and marketing initiatives.