In an environment where immediate community needs are never-ending, it’s hard to carve out energy and time in your fundraising plan to make room for planned giving. We understand! The team at the North Carolina Community Foundation knows how crucial it is for charitable organizations to attract as many donor dollars as possible to meet 2025’s mounting demands. 

Now, more than ever, you don’t want to ignore planned giving. Even during difficult times, you’d be sacrificing the long-term longevity of your mission. Intellectually, nonprofit fundraising professionals understand this, but it’s hard when there are competing priorities.  

Keep your planned giving spirits high by considering the following: 

• Over 70% of planned gifts come in the form of a will or trust. Simply asking your donor to consider including your organization in their will can make a difference. 

• Planned gifts are often significantly larger than annual donations. That’s because donors can make planned gifts from assets they might not be able to part with during their lifetime, such as naming a charity as beneficiary of a retirement plan. 

• You may discover that engaging a donor in planned giving conversations actually enhances the donor’s annual giving and campaign giving. This is because you’re engaging a donor through yet another touchpoint, reinforcing that there are multiple ways to align values and beliefs with thoughtful gifts to support your mission and your endowment. Indeed, donors who arrange for a planned gift may increase their annual giving by up to 75% and beyond! 

• Keep in mind that planned gifts are often unrestricted. This allows you to allocate the funds where they are most needed and, importantly, grow your endowment.  

• Pursuing planned gifts may not be as time-consuming as you think, especially given the return on investment often yielded by a planned gift. For instance, according to at least one study, for every dollar spent on promoting bequests, charities can expect an average return of $56.83, significantly higher than other fundraising methods.  

The key is to make it easy. Here’s how: 

• Small tweaks to your marketing materials. Mention the opportunity for planned giving somewhere on each marketing asset. If you have an agency endowment with us, make sure your website mentions it. The same goes for printed materials, one-pagers, email newsletters, and annual appeal letters. Even though you are asking for a current gift, don’t forget to mention that you’re always open to a discussion about endowment gifts through a bequest or beneficiary designation. 

• Always mention it, even if briefly. Talk with your major gift donors about the importance of your endowment and operating reserves to the organization’s ability to weather the ups and downs of the market and community needs. Sometimes donors don’t think about the “business” side of nonprofits. Even if your meeting is about something else, you can at least plant seeds.   

• Offer real inspiration. IFind a current donor who is open sharing their story and the reason they support your organization. Role models are powerful, so be sure to include the type of planned gift and a photo.  

We look forward to working with you to help you grow your endowment or start one at NCCF! We believe in philanthropy’s ability to improve the quality of life in our state through nonprofit organizations delivering services to people who need it most.