New to an Organization with an Old Legacy Giving Program?

New to an organization with a planned giving program? Read for some tips!

Whether you are new to an organization as the development director, the executive director, a development associate, a board member, or even the planned giving professional, what do you do when you've discovered that there are these legacy gifts from the past?

Just Starting Out

This can be a fantastic opportunity for you if you position yourself correctly. If you're starting from scratch, maybe you already have a list of people that had expressed a legacy intent in the past.. Maybe it's just a handful, or maybe there's 20. Start by doing the research that you can on each of them. Go through all your materials, and talk to people that may have some sort of institutional knowledge about these donors and their gifts. 

Next Steps

Then, gather all the information you can. Create a spreadsheet with donors' names and any information about the gifts. The goal is to acknowledge and thank the donor for his or her past gift, but also to find out information-- mainly, is the gift still active? Remember -  many of these gifts are revocable. The donor may have never finalized the gift. On the flip side, maybe the gift was made, and then perhaps the donor decided he or she is no longer engaged and passionate about it due to a lack of involvement. They may have removed the gift from their charitable planning. Their priorities may have changed. Maybe it has nothing to do with the organization. Maybe it's just family and financial priorities.

Finding out More Information

Once you find out if the gift is active, you are able to find out information about the gift. What type of gift is it? Is it in their will? Is it in a trust? Is it an endowment gift? Ideally, if you know the type of gift, then you may also find out whether something is revocable or irrevocable. Certainly, your finance committee would like to know if certain gifts are irrevocable as compared to revocable. 

Stewardship and Recognition

Once you confirm the legacy gifts are still active, make sure to recognize them for their legacy and steward them for their commitment.  It is likely that they may have been thanked for their gift previously, but it is important to continue to do so as you build out your legacy program.

If you take these actions,  you can start building relationships and engagement with these donors.