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.



Live United T-Shirts for the Next Generation

Last week I was visiting my daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter.  Stefanie worked for United Way of Greater Houston prior to the birth of Lydia.  As devoted grandparents, we came bearing gifts including Birmingham-Southern College shirts for Stefanie, who graduated from BSC in 2006, and Lydia, as the next generation of BSC Panthers.  They had 2 shirts in Lydia's size in the BSC bookstore and of course I bought them both.

An idea struck me on the flight back to Birmingham yesterday.  Why not send an infant or toddler Live United t-shirt to the next generation of United Way donors and then a note to their grandparents encouraging an endowment gift to continue their generosity for the benefit of their grandchildren, great grandchildren, etc?  Of course it means keeping up with children and births, but then again that is where volunteers serve as the best sources of information. 

In case you were wondering, we didn't forget our son-in-law.  He is an Auburn graduate!  War Eagle! (which takes some effort to say since we are Alabama fans!).

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.

Recognizing Legacy Society Members

How to recognize your Legacy Society members is one of those tough challenges.  People don't like you to spend money, but you want to recognize your donors as an example for others. After a good deal of experimentation (and some 1st rate failures) we have come up with a few ideas that have worked for us.  If you click on the name of the first 2 items, it will open the PDF in a new window from Google Drive. 

The Legacy Society Listing recognizes all of our donors who have given $1,000 or more to the endowment.  We take this listing on all calls to prospects and you'd be amazed how they will look through the names and find other people they know.    We produce this in house on 11x17 paper.  Our graphics guru uses one of his many programs and if you want to know more, I'll ask him which one.  The only cost for us are the color copies.

 

 

A Brochure Insert is very flexible and we produce these in house using Publisher.  You can swap them out to fit the prospect you are visiting.  We are trying to build a library of these inserts with a variety of different donor stories.  I've never had a donor tell me we couldn't tell their story.

 

  

Finally, this is a 4 foot by 3 foot foam board listing the names of our Million Dollar Legacy Circle and Tocqueville Legacy Circle.  We put it on an easel in a prominent place during events, dinners, etc.  The names of the donors who have joined in the last year are underlined so they stand out.  Any number of donors will look to see who they know and we always have a Champion standing nearby to talk about how they can join TLC or MDC.  We outsource this project and I seem to remember that it cost $100 to produce, but we use it all year.  If someone new joins during the year, we add a well crafted Post-It Note in the margins with an error pointing to where their name will go on next year's board.