5 Ways Legacy Giving Will Make You Invincible
Do you want to stand out at your organization?
Are you looking to grow in your profession, hit new goals, create a pathway to a promotion or perhaps leave and pursue other opportunities?
Understanding and applying legacy fundraising skills will help you succeed. If you are looking to stand apart and soar, here are the reasons why legacy giving will do that:
1. Strengthen donor relationships – legacy conversations, even if the donor has not yet made the gift, will deepen your connection with your donors. Throughout the legacy conversation cycle you will talk about and understand the donors’ values, what is important to them, why they support your organization and why they want to support your organization in the future.
This personal contact will deepen your connection to that donor and also provide valuable information about your organization that other donors may also share. Bonus tip: You can use this information to tweak your marketing and communications to connect better with other donors as well.
2. Expand your donor base - When you have those legacy conversations you will connect with the donor, their family and perhaps their advisors. You have gone from speaking with one person to speaking with many – you are provided an opportunity to influence the family of the donor to continue supporting an institution important to that loved one (usually the grandparent or parent).
You are also given an audience with professional advisors that, if they appreciate the mission and have a pleasant experience working with you, may suggest to their other clients (that may or may not be your existing donors) to consider a legacy gift to your organization.
Now, most gifts come from the donor’s connection with an organization, however there are some individuals that support an idea or type of program but have never been a formal donor to any particular nonprofit. These individuals may have conversations with their trusted advisors about organizations the attorney or advisor recommends.
3. Expand your professional skills – Understanding and applying legacy fundraising methodologies will provide you with desirable professional skills. There are a small number of fundraisers that specialize in planned giving, and the majority of them are in large organizations or consulting practices.
As a nonprofit professional you are gaining skills to be able to raise significant assets for the organization you work for; and these skills are transferable whether you work for animal rights or a community college, or any other type of nonprofit.
Understanding how to create a legacy message, speak with donors about planned giving and create a legacy program will set you apart from your peers.
4. Become the expert – when you know how to have the legacy conversation and start to bring in gifts you become the go-to person on all things legacy. You will see that most professionals don’t know what to do about planned giving. But you do!
Whether a notice of probate makes it to your office, or a donor calls about a questions of what language to include in their will, you are the one everyone in your organization will start to call to help close these gifts.
I’ll apologize in advance for putting more work on your plate, but then I would also take credit for getting you more visible in your organization. This will increase your confidence to take on this role. And getting noticed leads to more interesting projects, raises and promotions. Nice, huh? Read here for how doing planned giving will make you invincible.
5. You reach your goals
This is usually the first thing that people want to do – it’s quantifiable, it’s directly related to their job and can lead to professional confidence and satisfaction in their work.
Why put it last? It’s predictable! Donors that create legacy gifts are more likely to increase their annual gifts that will in turn allow you to reach your annual goals much quicker each year.
And, that doesn’t even speak to the significant gift you will receive via the legacy gift itself.
So what are you waiting for? Start those legacy conversations and reach nonprofit rock star status.
As always, join the party at our FREE closed Facebook group at www.facebook.com/everydaypg to get access to peer to peer community of nonprofit professionals using legacy giving to benefit their organizations and donors.