What happens when you promote legacy giving, reminding people of their own mortality?<\/h2>\n
It turns out there are two principle ways folks respond when confronted with their own mortality.<\/strong> It\u2019s essentially either \u2018approach\u2019 or \u2018avoidance.\u2019<\/p>\n 1. Avoidance<\/strong><\/p>\n If you send a legacy giving appeal to folks who don\u2019t want to think about death (it\u2019s not happening to me any time soon), they will simply ignore it.<\/p>\n GOOD NEWS:<\/strong> These folks won\u2019t pay a lot of attention to your appeal. They\u2019ll delete it or toss it. It\u2019s highly unlikely they\u2019ll stop giving to you during their lifetimes because you had the temerity to reach out to them about legacy giving. This is a LOW-RISK strategy.<\/strong><\/p>\n 2. Approach<\/strong><\/p>\n If you send a legacy giving appeal to folks who are comfortable confronting their inevitable death (it happens to everyone), they may see this as an opportunity to assure their values live on. It\u2019s a form of assuring their immortality.<\/p>\n GOOD NEWS:<\/strong> Just as these folks may leave a legacy for a friend or family member, assuring their memory lives on, they may just as willingly consider a legacy gift that memorializes other parts of their identity. Like the values your organization enacts, which values they share. This is a HIGH-REWARD strategy.<\/strong><\/p>\n 1. More Avoidance<\/strong><\/p>\n In the fear of death experiments, social scientists found the more personal death reminders people received the more avoidance they exhibited. Many folks today know someone who has contracted or succumbed to the virus. It feels personal. And the confrontation with a death reminder is daily. So the fact that COVID news is layered on top of any legacy giving messaging you may send means more people may react with an avoidance response. Add to this the fact the times in which were living diminish the sense of emotional wellbeing people have; when folks feel a sense of diminished blessings they exhibit less generosity towards others.<\/p>\n GOOD NEWS:<\/strong> Even if people react this way, they\u2019re still unlikely to stop giving to you otherwise simply because you broached the subject of legacy giving. You may get fewer folks opening your emails or letters, so you\u2019ll want to adapt your strategies and expectations accordingly. This is still a LOW-RISK strategy.<\/strong><\/p>\n 2. Enhanced Approach<\/strong><\/p>\n Because people have a more heightened sense of impending mortality than usual, many are doing whatever they can to increase their sense of autonomy and wellbeing. They can\u2019t control the virus but can control how they live with the virus by taking preventive measures. Besides wearing masks, socially distancing, and\/or even trying out untested treatments, people can connect with like-minded individuals and organizations to try to make a difference and enhance their sense of wellbeing.<\/p>\n GOOD NEWS:<\/strong> When you offer people the opportunity to take some control over their situation by making a meaningful philanthropic gift you also offer them the opportunity to feel better emotionally and psychologically. This may be perceived as especially significant during times like these when people feel loss of control in so many aspects of their lives. Layer on this the fact that people feel isolated and disconnected from others, and the opportunity to connect with your cause may strike a particularly resonant chord. The people who do take the approach response may actually approach with more receptivity because all these things are top of mind. This is still a HIGH-REWARD strategy.<\/strong><\/p>\n There are many factors affecting well-being. If a doctor can help you feel better, you\u2019ll likely feel grateful to that doctor. In fact, this is a foundation of hospital \u2018grateful patient\u2019 fundraising. If a religious congregation can help you feel connected and supported, you\u2019ll likely feel grateful to that congregation. In fact, this is a key tenet of faith-based fundraising<\/a>. But you don\u2019t need to be a healthcare or religious charity to help people feel better.<\/p>\n One key contributor to wellbeing is a sense of meaning.<\/strong> If you can help a donor develop a sense of purpose, agency, and significance, they\u2019ll likely feel grateful to you. That gratitude may be expressed in the form of a legacy gift.<\/p>\n GOOD NEWS:<\/strong> By now you\u2019re likely familiar with the MRI experiments<\/a> showing when people even contemplate giving they receive a dopamine rush that lights up the pleasure center of their brains. Giving offers people a \u2018warm glow\u2019 feeling<\/a>. This is something legacy giving can offer to folks.<\/p>\n All <\/em>giving, whether to friends, family or even strangers<\/strong> is experienced as pleasurable. Non-charitable or charitable, legacy giving included. The same feel-good chemicals<\/a> of oxytocin, serotonin, and dopamine \u2013 known as the \u201cHappy Trifecta<\/a>\u201d \u2014 and endorphins are released.<\/p>\n When folks are feeling powerless \u2013 as is the case today \u2013 giving can give them back their power<\/a>.<\/strong> I, for one, have never thought more about the importance of safeguarding democracy and civil liberties. I am so grateful for the organizations fighting on this front, and for the people who left past legacy gifts to assure these institutions would live to fight another day. Would this be a bad time for one of these organizations to approach me for a legacy gift? Or a particularly good time?<\/p>\n \u201cAll it takes for me to move from defeat to victory is to give away some money. It\u2019s the best deal I can think of.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u2014 Jeff Brooks, writing for Moceanic<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Success in fundraising is all about how you frame what you\u2019re doing.<\/strong> Legacy fundraising should always be respectful. In fact, all fundraising should.<\/p>\n Is your ask suffused with joy or clothed in apology?<\/strong>\u00a0 When you understand giving is good for people, then ideas like \u201csorry, I need to twist your arm\u201d or \u201cit\u2019s time to hit you up\u201d naturally fall away. And these are the regretful approaches that seem particularly odious right now when there\u2019s a surfeit of bald aggression on display.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t begin your appeal with \u201cWorried you may die soon?\u201d<\/strong> Of course, that seems obvious. But if you dig for the reasons folks in your organization may feel uncomfortable asking for legacy gifts<\/a> right now, you\u2019ll find that\u2019s how they view any such appeals. Their own discomfort with death \u2013 their personal \u2018avoidance\u2019 attitude \u2014 is seeping in. And, naturally, that\u2019s not what you\u2019re going to do. It\u2019s okay to be direct, just not crude. Some folks might call that \u201caggressive,\u201d but this doesn\u2019t mean hostile or antagonistic. It\u2019s simply being assertive. In a way that\u2019s helpful for everyone.<\/p>\n Remember, you\u2019re not begging, nor are you taking <\/em>something away.<\/strong> You are giving<\/em> something by offering a way for people to make a meaningful, \u2018feel good\u2019 transfer from their financial portfolio to their social portfolio.<\/p>\n People visit their attorneys when \u201cdeath becomes real.\u201d<\/strong> Usually, it\u2019s difficult to persuade folks, even those willing to consider a legacy gift, to visit their attorney during times they\u2019re not thinking about death. Most folks consider writing or changing, a will during life cycle transitions, such as birth, marriage, divorce, widowhood, or illness diagnosis. Sometimes it happens as people are about to engage in something risky, like flying overseas, climbing a mountain, or parachute jumping. Right now we\u2019re living in one of those transitional cycles.<\/p>\n No matter what you do or don\u2019t do, a lot of folks are calling on their attorneys.<\/strong> Now is different<\/a>. Google search results for \u201cwill planning\u201d are higher than they\u2019ve ever been. Essential workers are writing wills in droves, and attorneys are even volunteering to help them. Mostly these folks are thinking about protecting their family and loved ones. But\u2026 some of them love your cause too! And most good attorneys will ask clients if they wish to make a charitable bequest.<\/p>\n What happens when they get to the subject of legacy giving and your donor goes online searching for charitable beneficiaries?<\/strong> If you\u2019re not actively promoting legacy giving, people may not know you\u2019re set up to accept and manage bequests. So, at the very least, make sure you\u2019ve got this information on your website. And don\u2019t bury it! Go to your website and pretend you want to leave a bequest to your organization. Can you figure out how to do so? How many clicks does it take to find what you\u2019re looking for? Do you offer useful information like suggested language to include your charity in their will? Or how to name you as a beneficiary of a retirement plan or insurance policy? If it\u2019s a difficult process, now is a good time to make the experience more user-friendly.<\/p>\n It\u2019s better to be active than passive.<\/strong> Your goal is always to be top of mind<\/a> so folks think of you when charitable giving comes to mind. Donors need to know you make an impact. They need to know you\u2019ve been around a while (10 years is enough), and will continue to serve. They need to know other folks like them do this sort of thing \u2013 which is why telling legacy donors\u2019 stories are so powerful. More than once I\u2019ve had a donor call me to say: \u201cI saw Joe and Mary made a bequest\/set up a memorial, and I want to do that too.\u201d Similarly, I\u2019ve received calls saying: \u201cI had no idea the Loans and Grants Program was established by a 1948 bequest that grew to today\u2019s size; I\u2019d love to do something similar.\u201d Here are some simple ways to promote legacy giving<\/a>.<\/p>\n People are always dying. Sometimes more than other times, but no one is immune to death.<\/strong> Not every one of your supporters will choose to look it in the face at any point in time, but it\u2019s not for you to decide on others\u2019 behalf whether they may or may not wish to consider the ramifications of their own mortality. Any more than it should be your decision whether to ask your constituents for an outright gift or not.<\/p>\n When you make excuses on behalf of others you do no one any favors<\/a>. It\u2019s presumptuous at best. And, arguably, downright stingy<\/a>. Dr. Adrian Sargeant and Dr. Elaine Jay found 88.7% of donors indicated they believe it is appropriate for nonprofits to ask for legacy gifts<\/a>. In fact, donors encourage organizations they care about to communicate with them regularly and through different communication channels. They understand their attention spans are short, and what interests them today may not be what interested them yesterday or tomorrow.<\/p>\n My Mom always said, \u201cYou can\u2019t take it with you.<\/em>\u201d There are others who subscribe to that same philosophy, and who may be looking for places to leave a piece of their legacy. Would you deny them this opportunity?<\/p>\n Legacy giving seizes victory from the jaws of defeat.<\/strong> Whether folks close to you have passed away, or you\u2019re confronted with death and dying on a global scale, or you\u2019re simply afraid of dying yourself, legacy giving can:<\/p>\n I\u2019ll leave you with another beautiful quote from Jeff Brooks<\/a>, who writes about the numerous ways giving yields financial, emotional, psychological and physical health benefits, not to mention creating habits of virtue:<\/p>\nWhat happens differently when you promote legacy giving when folks people know are dying?<\/h2>\n
When people feel a diminished sense of wellbeing they\u2019ll seek to do something to feel better.<\/h2>\n
It\u2019s increasingly understood: giving is good for people.<\/h2>\n
Ask aggressively, but don\u2019t hit folks over the head with a hammer.<\/h2>\n
People are making wills right now more than ever.<\/h2>\n
Here\u2019s why you should promote legacy giving \u2013 at ALL times.<\/h2>\n
Don\u2019t be shy about asking for legacy gifts!<\/h3>\n
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