Planned Giving Team Annual Check List

Build a strong planned giving program with the core components.

Your best planned giving prospects have similar traits. In this 15 minute presentation Jim Schade gives you the roadmap of who they are and how to find them.

Know what they are, how to identify them, why donors use them and how to make sure you are maximizing gifts from them.

This is a great evaluation tool to use with your staff, key volunteers, and board members. Have each of them, or a select group of them complete the evaluation and then discuss the results together. You will each see things a little differently and that knowledge will be helpful in making real changes and improve in giving to your organization.

Giving societies are useful tools in renewing and upgrading your donors. Join us as we discuss establishing and marketing giving societies, as well as using giving societies to share our gratitude to our donors.

In this session we'll share the best practices for asking for a gift. Whether you've never asked, or just want a refresher, participants will leave this session with new and renewed confidence to invite others to generosity.

Using a gift intent card or form, especially for legacy gifts, can help provide clarity from the donor about their wishes. Because the donor will not be alive to speak about their wishes when the gift is realized, an intent form can help ensure you honor them. It can help the organization plan its budget, and it helps maintain institutional knowledge. Here is a sample you can download and adapt for your own organization.

Whether you call them planned gifts, legacy gifts, or estate gifts, they don't just fall out of the sky. They take a great deal of thought, intentionality, and follow-through to ensure not only that they are done, but that they are done correctly. Did you know that 70% of estate plans fail to pay out the way the donor intended? So, if you aren't communicating with your donors about leaving gifts and leaving them correctly, you may not want, or be able to actually receive those that fall out of the sky. In addition, most donors simply think about leaving a church or charity "in their Will." During this roundtable, we will learn how your communication is critical to sparking their creativity and maximizing gift ideas and options.

Donors fall into three categories: Annual Fund, Capital Gifts, and Legacy. The biggest bang for their buck comes in one of these categories. Legacy or Planned Giving donors are a special kind of person. They can see into the future and they have truly caught your vision, but knowing who they are and "where" to find them can be difficult. It is critical to add components to your program that help you identify them, while also allowing them to self-identify. During this roundtable, we will discuss these components.

Since 2007, small businesses have enjoyed a tax benefit which was passed by congress to stimulate the economy. Purchased equipment and vehicles have mostly been depreciated for tax purposes. What happens when these assets are sold or the business is transitioned to new ownership? The short answer is, they are taxed. Many of these small businesses are owned by some of your donors. At this roundtable, we will discuss ways donors can use the benefits of making gifts to your organization with these assets, in a very tax-wise way.

What would you do if someone gave your organization a submarine? If your first response to this question isn't, "Our Gift Policy Says..." then this roundtable will be essential for you. While the focus of this document is on Planned Giving, it also has huge implications for your annual fund and capital campaign giving. In addition, if someone wants to continue their annual gift into perpetuity after they die, do you have a vehicle for making that possible? Endowments often get a bad rap, but that is because they aren't managed using best practices. In this roundtable, we will also highlight why you need Endowment By-Laws and what should be included.

GSB's strategic partner, Gentreo, provides online services for your donors to complete their will and other estate documents. This service encourages legacy giving and provides you the ability to be seen as a partner to your donors.