{"id":52619,"date":"2021-02-25T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-02-25T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bloomerang2dev.wpengine.com\/?p=52619"},"modified":"2025-11-07T09:30:43","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T14:30:43","slug":"donor-love-for-life-a-look-at-planned-giving-stewardship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bloomerang.com\/blog\/donor-love-for-life-a-look-at-planned-giving-stewardship\/","title":{"rendered":"Donor love, for life: a look at planned giving stewardship"},"content":{"rendered":"

In uncertain times<\/a>, organizations with a focus on both short and long-term revenue and resources experience less disruption of services. One way to ensure the longevity of your operation is to develop and execute a planned giving program for your organization.<\/p>\n

Giving USA reported<\/a> 10% of 2019 giving in the United States was from bequests, and research from Dr. Russell James at Texas Tech University<\/a> shows that donors who include a planned gift in their estate tend to increase their current giving, even for years after inclusion of the gift.<\/p>\n

However, in launching and running a planned giving program<\/a>, often much of the focus is on the acquisition part of the process. How do we identify who is a prospect? How will we communicate with them our organization\u2019s willingness to accept legacy gifts? What is the process to accept the gift?<\/p>\n

As the identification, cultivation, and solicitation parts of planned gifts may take years to complete, it\u2019s understandable that receiving notification that a donor has included your organization in their estate is exciting! And it SHOULD be celebrated \u2026 they are making a lasting impact on those who your organization serves!<\/p>\n

However, if this gift is not properly stewarded, it can be lost \u2026 and often, more quickly than it was acquired. That is because many planned gifts are revocable, such as bequest in a will or beneficiary designations on a retirement account or insurance policy. They can be changed at any time by the donor before the estate is realized. Changing a bequest is a little more involved as the donor will often work with their attorney, but many beneficiary designations are easily changed by logging in to a retirement or insurance account online and making a few quick updates.<\/p>\n

How can you avoid this and properly ensure planned giving stewardship?<\/p>\n

How planned giving stewardship differs<\/h2>\n

When dealing with current use donations, the stewardship process<\/a> is sometimes short, and often morphs into cultivation for the next gift. But with a planned gift, the stewardship process is much longer: best practice is to steward the gift until received from the donor\u2019s estate.<\/p>\n

With donors making legacy giving decisions throughout their lives, this means gifts are often stewarded for decades. If a donor in their 40s includes your organization as a beneficiary on a retirement plan, and lives into their 80s or 90s, that\u2019s 40 to 50 years of stewardship! While you may be the fundraising professional that secures the planned gift notification from the donor, the chances of you being the professional that works with the gift when it is realized from the donor\u2019s estate is low.<\/p>\n

How can you set up your successor colleagues for success with these gifts? First, have conversations with donors about what they want to accomplish with this ultimate gift. What do they envision their legacy to be with your organization? Is this feasible if not funded until decades from now? Capturing information on what they wish to see happen with their future gift in a way which is specific \u2013 but not so specific that it cannot be executed \u2013 is key.<\/p>\n

Next, document as much as possible. Contact reports for donor visits and conversations are one way to accomplish this. Many organizations also develop a planned gift notification form, which captures basic information about the donor\u2019s gift and intent. Some items on a typical form include:<\/p>\n