Planned Giving Best Practices to Start Using Today

John Perell Director, Direct Response and Shared Services

Smithsonian Institution

Trish Rooks

Lynn Storey Director, Planned Giving Marketing Easterseals

Director of Planned Giving CARE USA

John Perell, Smithsonian Institution

Planned Giving expansion into lead generation is part of a broader strategy to integrate individual giving at Smithsonian

FY16 is the first year where the Office of Advancement initiated a marketing plan for Planned Giving Lead Generation Prior to FY16 - 30-40 leads per year

1,150 leads in the first 8 months

Lead Generation: New Frontier in Direct Response Marketing

Overall general support and planned giving represent 12% of the $250M in annual revenue.

Long-term goal is to increase general support and grow planned giving.

Can you talk about how much revenue or the share of your revenue brought in by planned giving?

Large percentage of planned gifts come from the lower ranks of membership from long-time members

62% of major donors started with gifts below $150.

High Touch model identified 53k members with Good to Excellent Planned Giving Likelihood scores

Success of initial survey campaign

How have you been able to make the case that Direct Marketing (mail) is a feeder program for planned gifts?

Funding fluctuates based on 5% tax on unrestricted bequests.

We are currently working internally to develop a different funding model and secure support.

Budget is spent on ads, targeted mailings and surveys.

How have you been able to get funding to support lead generation and other marketing activities? How did you spend the investment once you were successful?

Pipeline report and average gift of $61,000.

Currently evaluating other methodologies to implement at Smithsonian.

What methodology do you use to project future revenue?

Other anecdotes for building internal support?

Leveraging the success of the initial Friends Campaign to build support of other museums/programs for their Planned Giving marketing, including ads and surveys.

Leadership committed to “Horizontal” Integration of Individual Giving.

Working together to achieve greater results.

Capital Campaign focused on building out a best of class advancement structure.

What organizational traits/structure/culture have helped make you successful?

Which ones have provided an opportunity (challenge)?

“Ownership” - Overlap of members/donors across organization.

Holding onto “sacred cows” and age-old perceptions.

Last but not

least…

Avoid doing this.

What lead generation activities have been “eye openers”?

Magazine ads are not producing the way they once did.

They are still useful and help to reinforce campaigns.

Layer messaging throughout direct response to build awareness.

Survey campaign placed correctly in overall cadence plan can enhance renewals and appeals.

Create multiple ways for individuals to let us know we are in their plans (website, emails, direct mail, membership buckslips)

What have you learned about the cultivation, stewardship and cadence (communication strategy) with regards to PG donors and prospects?

Currently, we are layering in one to two targeted Planned Giving asks into our marketing plan annually.

We leverage a combination of push and pull.

How often do you make planned giving the main ask? Is it all push?

Do you have reactive elements as well?

We offer opportunities to self-identify interest throughout the program.

We include a buckslip in all acknowledgements, have check-boxes on renewal, lapsed and appeal reply forms.

John Perell

202-633-2042

PerellJ@SI.edu

linkedin.com/in/perell

Director, Direct Response and Shared Services

Smithsonian Institution

Lynn Storey, Easterseals

Making The Case:

74 affiliates provide supports for people of all ages living with disabilities 1998: PG marketing to national database 2010: Formalized PG marketing program

• Revenue potential for each affiliate • Impact of acquisition/lapsed

reactivation investment

Making The Case:

Affiliates cover cost of national planned giving marketing • Predictive modeling • Age-segmented, variable content in digital marketing • Interactive website features

Planned gifts are 7% of all network revenue from individuals

Unique Program Attributes:

What are your planned giving pain points? • Lack of familiarity with planned gifts • No time! • No budget! • Desire to share with/learn from affiliate

peers

Easterseals Affiliate Network – opportunities and challenges

Unique Program Attributes:

Affiliate engagement marketing via:

• Extranet – interactive messaging • Blog posts, polls, discussions

• Webinars • Email

Highest demand for most basic and most sophisticated content

Unique Program Attributes/Results:

2013-2015:

• Affiliate engagement re: planned giving increased 370%

• Number of Legacy Society members identified by affiliates increased 555%

Value of bequests from Legacy Society members stewarded by affiliates AND National is 25% higher than average

The Next Frontier:

Short term: • Silent Generation donors • Social media’s role

Long term: • Affiliates fully engaging local supporters re: planned gifts • Double planned giving revenue across network

Trends affecting planned giving lead gen today: • Decrease in estates distributed via wills/trusts - beneficiary designations • Longevity/weak interest rates effect on viability of life income gifts

Lynn Storey

312.551.7135

lstorey@easterseals.com

Director, Planned Giving Marketing

Easterseals

Trish Rooks, CARE USA

Can you talk about how much revenue or the share of your revenue brought in by planned giving?

PRIVATE REVENUE SOURCES FY15 vs. FY16 (Government Grants not included)

How have you been able to make the case that Direct Marketing (mail) is a feeder program for planned gifts?

CULTIVATION METHOD OF PG DONORS

• Storytelling with CARE’s Management team - showed the important link between Direct Mail and PG

• Making the case that any cut in acquisition could have a long-term impact on revenue from deferred gifts

How have you been able to get funding to support lead generation and other marketing activities? How did you

spend the investment once you were successful?

USING DATA TO MAKE THE CASE FOR PG

•22,500 donors scored very high

for bequest likelihood

•18,151 donors scored very high

for charitable gift annuity likelihood

•6,149 donors scored very high for

charitable remainder trusts

likelihood

CARE invested in database analysis….

REFRESH OF PG MARKETING MATERIALS Messaging will vary based on age

Newsletter also gets a refresh:

What methodology do you use to project future revenue?

PROJECTING PLANNED GIFTS

YEAR NEW ESTATE

NOTIFICATIONS

FY06 183

FY07 171

FY08 163

FY09 123

FY10 126

FY11 195

FY12 140

FY13 102

FY14 118

FY15 212

FY16 107

Other anecdotes for building internal support?

“Show me the Money!”

What organizational traits/structure/culture have helped make you successful? Which ones have provided an

opportunity (challenge)?

AN INTEGRATED SYSTEM

• In 2011, CARE blended our major gifts and planned giving efforts to ensure a donor-centered approach

• We no longer hand-off (or trade up) donors who cross an arbitrary threshold that was internally established

• This allows development officers to create a seamless and more meaningful relationship and build trust with the donor

CONFLICTS/CHALLENGES

• Executive Staff and Board of Directors are often focused on gifts

that provide revenue in current year. (Funding gaps put PG on

the back burner.)

• Lack of Metrics for PG activity

• Some feel that promoting bequests to Major Gift donors will have

an adverse effect on current giving, when in fact the opposite is

true

ADDED PG GOALS for MAJOR GIFTS TEAM 1. Confirm 2 New Planned Gifts; can be deferred (bequests, charitable

Trusts, beneficiary designations, etc.) or asset gifts (charitable gift annuities, charitable lead trusts, etc.)

2. Develop Solicitation / Stewardship Strategies for Comprehensive Prospects within Portfolio; send a minimum of 2 blended gift proposals in FY16 (goal is to tee up a PG discussion with the donor, not to close a gift this fiscal year)

3. Steward Legacy Society Donors in the Regions; incorporate these donors into MG donor trips / event invitations as appropriate

4. Steward/Cultivate of Planned Giving Prospects: Goal is to have meaningful interactions with the donor and to uncover qualified leads for further cultivation (not to close a gift)

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What lead generation activities have been “eye openers”?

PG DONOR OUTREACH in 2016

17 CARE PACKAGE DONORS

RECOGNIZED AT NATIONAL

CONFERENCE

178K PG interactions w/

donors

Nearly 7K interactions from

stewardship calls, and donor

outreach from Relationship

Managers and Office of PG

102K donors received PG

Legacy newsletter

2 PG Lead Generation

Mailings to 60K+ donors

LONGEVITY DONOR OUTREACH CAMPAIGN

• Donors responded with

personal feedback to CEO

• $30K in gifts with no

solicitation – my biggest

return ever for a PG

mailing

2016 LEAD GENERATION RESULTS

• 46 new deferred gifts; potential value of $2.4M+ and 26 re-

confirmed deferred gifts

• 12 New annuity contracts totaling $370K

• 27 Comprehensive Asks (MG donors asked to consider a

deferred gift)

• Beneficiary Designation mailing had low return

• Major Gifts Team outreach to Florida donors

• May Newsletter with CGA focus has brought in $50K so far

What have you learned about the cultivation, stewardship and cadence (communication strategy) with regards to PG

donors and prospects?

COLLABORATION WITH DM

• PG Reply Device on renewal mailings 350K donors twice a month

• Outright gifts that come from PG mailings go toward DM revenue

PG & LAPSED DONOR CAMPAIGNS

• Studies show that

estate donors may

not be current

donors, but they used

to be.

• We need to target

lapsed donors with

PG messaging.

• Collaborate with DM

when they are doing

renewal campaigns. Source: Russell James, 2013

The Next Frontier for the Program

What are your short term goals for your program?

Where do you want the program to be in 5 years?

What are the big trends in planned giving impacting lead generation or DM best practices that you are paying

attention to right now?

THE NEXT FRONTIER……

• Here come the Baby Boomers

• Shift to Restricted

• Mid-Level Donors

• Incorporating PG into a Campaign

• New Ways to Market PG

Social media

“Small Bets”

Trish Rooks

404-979-9528

ltrooks@care.org

Director of Planned Giving

CARE, USA