Retreading the Blog

As it says above in the description, I started this blog back in 2013 when I was VP of Planned Giving at United Way in Birmingham.  It was a way to share good ideas that someone else shared with me.  I cannot vouch for any of the links from those 2013 posts, although I did check and most of the forms and documents I uploaded still work.

October 2013 I moved to the YMCA as the Chief Development Officer.  Now, about a year and a half later, I am restarting the blog because I've decided to take the CFRE exam.  I went on the web looking for resources, didn't have a whole lot of luck, so why not share the steps I take.  If I pass the test, then maybe you will have a guide that will help you.  If I don't pass, well then you will know what not to do.

The rest of the posts will be about what we are doing in financial development at the YMCA of Greater Birmingham.  If you find something useful, feel free to borrow it.

David

Legacy Giving Recognition Levels



How many recognition levels is one of those tricky questions that we are revisiting right now.  Too many levels and no one takes them seriously.  Too few and you discourage increased giving.  Too low or too high causes a different set of problems and it is very difficult to recognize a donor at a level and then change the requirements.  Do you unrecognize them if they don't meet the new rules?  I don't think so.  So, its rather important to start off right.

Currently we recognize you at the following levels for a current or deferred gift to the endowment...

$1,000 and you are a member of The Legacy Society

$250,000 and you are a member of The Tocqueville Legacy Circle (and The Legacy Society)

$1,000,000+ and you've joined the Million Dollar Legacy Circle (and TLC and LS)

 

We didn't think that was enough so we're adding some new ones...

 

$1,000 = The Legacy Society

$25,000 = The Leadership Legacy Circle

$125,000 = The Builders Legacy Circle

$250,000 = The Tocqueville Legacy Circle

$500,000 = The ? Legacy Circle

$1,000,000 = The Million Dollar Legacy Circle

Assuming a 4% return and draw, $25,000 endows an annual gift of $1,000 (our base annual campaign leadership level gift), $125,000 yields $5,000 annually (our Builders Society annual giving level), and $500,000  ... well we really haven't come up with a good justification for that level, hence the problem with coming up with a good name.  Any ideas will earn you my undying appreciation and all the recognition, accolades, and cash prizes I give for every other good idea.  Best of all, if we compile a list of good recognition level names here, then everyone can just appropriate them for their Legacy Society.  Retreading at its finest.



Financial Professional Advisory Committees

Professional Advisory Committees have been a hot topic for a number of years in the planned giving world.  Everyone thinks they are good, but I haven't come across a successful model to copy just yet.  Some organizations have a separate group from their PG committee that meets a couple times of the year.  Some groups review gifts, others sponsor continuing ed events, still others come together to encourage financial professionals to reach out to their clients and promote charitable giving, particularly to the charity hosting the meeting.

Our Professional Advisory group started off as a separate group and has since become a part of our Legacy Cabinet. They are full fledged cabinet members along with our donor volunteers and bring an interesting perspective to the discussions.  We typically look for young professionals who give to and volunteer with United Way and are not just looking for an "easy" way to find new clients.  Financial professionals on the Legacy Cabinet include:

1. An estate planning attorney who is a member of our Young Leaders group and a past Allocations Team volunteer.
2. A real estate attorney who volunteered on our 2-1-1 emergency crisis line following the April 2011 tornadoes.
3. A CPA from a local accounting firm specializing in individual taxes.
4. A private banker who is a past Loaned Executive, Allocations Team volunteer, and a strong United Way supporter.
5. A trust officer who is a past Loaned Executive and a current Tocqueville member.
6. An insurance professional who is a Tocqueville member and a past Campaign Cabinet member.

Our financial professional group is constantly evolving and I don't think we have a perfect model by any stretch of the imaginaton, but we are getting there.  The other Cabinet volunteers like having financial professionals as part of the Legacy Cabinet so they have knowledgeable people who can answer questions at each meeting.

How Professonal Advisory Committees Can Be Most Effective is an interesting article from the Planned Giving Design Center and a good place to start.  If you have success, please let me know so we can retread your ideas. 

Also worth reading from the Chronicle of Philanthropy - 75% of Young Donors Turned Off by Out-of-Date Web Sites. 

Just Do It!

I love a good Tagline!  The Nike Swoosh inspires me to run that much faster even though I wear Asics.  If you can tell me what "Where's the Beef?" advertised, then you and I are likely close in age.  Good taglines help us remember and move us to action.  So what are some good planned giving taglines?

I make it no secret that I am not particularly enamored with "Remember United Way in your will or estate plan and tell us when you do."  In my humble opinion (which is worth all you've paid for it), this statement is passive, reminds me too much of dying, and a will is an estate plan (but not necessarily vice versa).  I could go on, but point expressed and if you want to know more of my reasons or would like to tell me I'm wrong, just give me a call.  The real question is - what's better?

My current tagline comes from a college website with a few modifications. 

Legacy Gifts.  Shape the Future... Build Tomorrow with United Way! 

Call me today to begin.

I also use...  Legacy Gifts.  It's Forward Thinking Philanthropy Beginning Today.  Call 205.458.2022.

Planned Giving Today calls them "blurbs" and posted several of their favorites in the Marketing Reprintable of their July edition.  I added United Way to each of them. 

• Please Consider....  including United Way in your will.  For a free Bequest Information Kit, visit www.uwca.org or call us at (205) 458-2022
• Is United Way in your Will or Revocable Living Trust?  If not remember that your bequest can make a difference! 
• You can help us serve the next generation.  But only when you remember to include United Way in your will.
• Your legacy is ready to start...  when you name United Way in your will, trust, or life insurance.

The first 2 don't excite me much, but I like the 3rd and 4th examples better.  I don't think I have come across one yet that really works like "Just do it!" or "Think different."

Rachel Sellers in her blog, The Compass, has an excellent post from 2011 on taglines.  You can find it HERE.  She includes the following checklist for creating a good tagline....

 

She has a total of 10 pieces of Branding Advice on her blog and they are worth reading as you consider how to market your planned giving program.  Have a good weekend.

Building Relationships

I found an exceptionally good article today in Inc. magazine from January 2011. Click Here!  If you don't like clicking or the link doesn't work, cut and paste this address http://www.inc.com/guides/201101/how-to-build-better-business-relationships.html. 

Not only does Darren Dahl give great tips on building better relationships, but he gives great tips on how to incorporate these tips in your work routine.  

The Cart and the Horse

It is ever so tempting to start off your program with the cart and horse in the wrong positions.  You can easily spend all your time and energy writing policies and printing brochures and doing everything to get ready to talk to donors.  I've done it and I can tell you that policies and brochures do not bring in gifts.  So, from everything I've learned from others with far better ideas than mine, the best next step to take in starting your program is to start talking to donors - any donors. 



Start with an elevator speech.  It is your sales pitch and it should take no longer than the time it would take to ride an elevator from the ground to the penthouse.  You can read my current elevator speech by clicking HERE (a reminder that I upload these documents to Google Drive and they are supposed to be virus free).  It is current because it changes all the time in the never ending attempt to make the message better.  I spent a lot of time intially practicing this speech on my fellow UWCA employees and our elevator only goes 5 floors.  I would highly recommend doing the same in your organization.  Once your boss likes what you have to say, call a few volunteers and ask if you can practice with them.  You never know, it could start them thinking about making a Legacy gift. 

 

As your confidence builds, your message will get better and then will come the day when you find yourself standing next to a 20 year donor in an elevator and you will be ready.  More importantly, you will have developed the message that will also work well in letters, brochures, and websites.  Soon you will land your first gift and then you can write retread some policies.

At the Starting Line

You are at the starting line.  Your boss and perhaps her boss have decided your United Way needs an endowment and a planned giving program.  Now they have handed you a new title, reams of recommendations, and a goal of starting it all successfully.  Never fear, you are really in a pretty good place.  Lots of us in the UW planned giving world have already made the mistakes and benefitted from the lessons learned from experience and the teachings of others who have figured out how to start and where to go.

Recently I was re-reading a Kathryn Miree article and her emphasis on the importance of beginning with that essential and eternal endowment question, "Why are we doing this?"  The answer is called your Case Statement and Kathryn points out the need for both external and internal statements.  The internal statement communicates the need to your staff, how an endowment and planned giving program will fit into your resource development efforts, and how the gifts and expectancies will be counted and accounted.  The external statement communicates with your donors the reason they should give to the endowment.  A good external statement should:

• Inspire vision
• Inspire passion
• Be urgent
• Involve the Donor
• Be brief enough to be useful.

We didn't have an internal case statement when our programs were first started in 1991, however I did pull the "Case for Support" as a reminder of our purpose.  It reads

United Way should raise a signficant endowment for the purpose of launching major community initiatives aimed at specific problems in the community.  This would enable UW to select issues, commit to single or multi year funding and attract other partners from the community to collaborate to create real and lasting change.
 

You will also find a good Case for Endowment on the website of  St. Matthew's Parish School in Pacific Pallisades, CA. 

The best way I have found to build your case is to gather a small group of volunteers and ask the questions, "Why should we have an endowment?" and "Why should you give to the endowment?"  With a good external case statement in hand, bring together a diverse group of staff and ask the same questions to develop your internal statement.  Remember, these can change with time, knowledge, and program development.

The last bit of advice I am going to share today comes from the experience of others.  Endowments should not be started to pay the administrative costs of your United Way.  I could write pages on why this is just not a good idea.  Contact me and I will give you several LUW's who made that choice and have found that it is a difficult mistake to correct when you've learned your lesson.

I plan to add several more resources over the next few posts that will help you at the starting line of your endowment and planned giving programs.

 

PPP

PPP is the national organization for planned giving.  Formerly the National Committee on Planned Giving (NCPG), PPP is dedicated to the promotion of charitable gift planning through research, education, advocacy, community dialogue and the setting of standards and best practices in philanthropic planning.  The website at www.pppnet.org is home to a wealth of information including the Valuation Standards for Charitable Planned Gifts.  This answers the question of how do you count planned gifts received by your United Way in your campaigns. 

PPP is also the gateway to your local Planned Giving Council. Many areas host these organizations dedicated to furthering planned giving in local communities.  In Birmingham, I am a member of the Alabama Planned Giving Council along with other planned giving professionals, CPAs, estate planning attorneys, and financial advisors.  Our website is found at alabamaplannedgiving.org.  The Planned Giving Council in your area is a good way to link up with other professionals who will help you get started with your own program.

More Donor Recognition

To-Ga. To-Ga. To-Ga.  
Every John Belushi fan recognizes this reference immediately!  It's also the title to a great article in the June 1 edition of The NonProfit Times by Susan Ellis.  Susan is President of Energize (www.energizeinc.com) and she challenges us to come up with new recognition events that are meaningful, fun, and well-attended.  Yeah, yeah, I know we have all heard that before, but she offers some really thought-inspiring suggestions.  You will find the article on The NonProfit Times website HERE.

I also came across another excellent article in Planned Giving Today.  Rebecca Rothey in "First, You Have to Get In the Door" shares her keys to success for getting in the door with a prospect.  Rebecca is the director of major and planned giving at the Baltimore Community Foundation.  You will find her article in the June 2013 edition of Planned Giving Today.  You can only access the article online if you are a Planned Giving Today subscriber.  It is well worth the 10 minutes or so it will take to read and will give you some new tips for the next time you sit down with the names of good prospects and the telephone.

5 Easy (and Good) Steps to Start a PG Program

Starting a Planned Giving program at a small (or any size) United Way can be a rather daunting task.  There are any number of "How-to" resources that can leave you with that glazed over look and the absolute certainty that it will never work.  Don't give up!  Today I came across a really good blog post that makes it all seem possible.

Go to The NYSARC Blog and there you will find an article by their development consultant, Judi Taylor Cantor, well worth reading.  Planned Giving doesn't have to be complicated and Judi's article illustrates this idea so well.  It might be a while before you are ready to offer your donors Charitable Gift Annuities (step 5), but when you reach that point, remember the United Way Worldwide Charitable Gift Annuity program as well as United Way Life.  These 2 programs offer your United Way all the benefits without many of the administrative  headaches.  Finally Judi's concluding comments on patience should be taped to everyone's wall and read daily.

The entire website is also excellent and a few minutes spent following the links will offer even more valuable resources for starting your program.  There is a link on the right side of the page that will take you to more of The Fundraising Files written by Judi.