Ready to plan for Legacy Gifts this year?
Ready to plan for Legacy Gifts this year?
Don't you love having a plan or a program in place that allows you to see how well you reached your goals? If so, read on and learn how to create a plan for legacy giving this year. As a result, you will be able to find ways to put different actionable items into place throughout the year in order to successfully reach the goals of your organization.
Developing Goals
But, first and foremost, what is your legacy goal? That is one of the things you must think about. If you are just starting your legacy giving plan, maybe your goal is to educate your donors. If you've been doing planned giving for a while, perhaps a couple of years or so, you might want to start bringing in more gifts or doing more solicitations.
Productive Planning
Think about going to Staples amidst the back to school madness. Personally, I am obsessed with Staples. I love going to the store and finding different items to help plan and do work. It's always exciting to go and get fresh legal pads and pens and all these different items that I could utilize to make my planning more productive.
Brainstorm what you can do to make your planning more productive. Focus on just a few goals. Don't go too over the top by thinking of lofty goals that you want to reach or 10 different goals for the year. Start with three legacy goals.
Define your Intentions and Actionable Projects
Think about and define what your intentions are. Maybe your intention is to educate your donor base about legacy giving. Then start to break out your goals into quarters and ask yourself, “What do I want to do this quarter?” Perhaps you decide to set a six month goal instead. Either way, think about what projects you actually can do to adhere to and ultimately reach your goals and pick a few to start with.
For instance, if you want to raise awareness, maybe you can write a testimonial letter to go to your donors about a gift that someone has already given to you. Or you can write an article in your newsletter educating donors, or perhaps a buck slip in your thank you letters that you send through which you can talk about legacy giving. There are endless different things you can do to raise awareness, or to reach any of your goals.
Breaking Projects Down Into Tasks
After breaking down your goals into actionable projects, break these projects down further into tasks. This step includes assigning each element to whoever is responsible for it, whether it is you, someone else on your staff, or even an outside vendor. You'd have to look at the scope of the program and look within your organization to figure out who those right people are.
Once you go through this process, remember to review your goals monthly to determine if you are taking the correct actions and meeting the results you desire. Pay attention to the actions that are getting the most results and double down on those, and eliminate the items that are not working. This process can take some time, and it may be a year to two until you get into a system that is most effective for your organization to build a legacy program.