July 28, 2010 | Read Time: 2 minutes
How you promote planned gifts is just as important as identifying and cultivating people who want to make a charitable bequest in their wills.
The result can be extraordinary, as the Nature Conservancy, the big environmental group in Arlington, Va., has learned.
Simon Williams, who managed gift-planning strategy and stewardship at the Nature Conservancy before he became a consultant to charities, explained what worked this week at the Bridge to Integrated Marketing and Fundraising Conference, held just outside Washington.
His three tips:
* Develop a content-rich page about planned gifts for your Web site, and promote the link all over your site and printed materials. Also make sure you have an easy-to-remember address in print pieces (www.Webname/bequest) as well as contact information prominently displayed everywhere. Thanks to the Nature Conservancy’s planned-giving page, its Web inquiries went from 118 annually to 302 a few years later. A sample copy from its page: “You trust us with nature’s future. Let us help you plan for yours.”
* Coordinate direct-mail campaigns so they land in mailboxes at the same time as new content arrives on your organization’s home page. Provide engaging and interesting content, too. Tell stories through videos and interactive tools, such as forms and calculators. “Donor stories add a face to the organization and works great in marketing,” Mr. Williams says. “Stories provide a connection and relevance to other supporters.” Nature Conservancy donors told the organization they loved the video stories, Mr. Williams says.
* Enroll donors in a Legacy Club to make it easy for them to tell you they have pledged money to your group in their will. You can also place a form on the Web site so they can quickly provide key details about their bequest. After it took these steps, the Nature Conservancy saw a 40 percent to 50 percent rise in the number of people who told the organization about bequests. Some 13 percent of will notifications came in through the Web site; before, that number was only 4 percent.
Looking to find people who might be interested in making a bequest or other planned gift? Here’s an easy tip from Mr. Williams: For a big event, make Legacy Club ribbons that can be attached to name tags. Others will be clamoring to know what they are and how they can get one.
