Dear <$firstname$>,

Welcome to THE PLANNED GIVING KEY^(TM), a newsletter to help you increase your fundraising success with planned gifts!

I'm curious. What exactly is "best practices"? We often hear the term and not only in the nonprofit community. For sure, it's a term of broad relevance and even more widely used than the over-worked term "planned giving" (which can also leave people scratching their heads in confusion).

I looked it up on Wikipedia. It starts out by saying: "Best practices are generally-accepted, informally-standardized techniques, methods or processes that have proven themselves over time to accomplish given tasks. Often based upon common sense, these practices are commonly used where no specific formal methodology is in place or the existing methodology does not sufficiently address the issue."

But I think it's safe to say that we want to follow "best practices" because we understand that "Best practices are used to deliver best outcomes".

Many more nonprofit boards are now interested in learning and implementing best practices for improving program and board efficiency and revenues. No one wants to just keep doing things "the way it's always been done" because the folly of this policy has become so painfully evident as competition for charitable dollars has increased, new challenges have arisen, and accountability and transparency are in demand by supporters.

So I ask you, when it comes to strategic planning and smart fundraising, do you consider actively seeking bequests, life-income gifts, and other ways of making deferred gifts as a form of best practices?

You are the community I serve and I would love to get your thoughts and comments on this issue. Please send them to me at lgreif@breakthroughphilanthropy.com or lgreif@easypg.com or let me know what you really think on my blog: www.plannedgivingbreakthroughs.com.  

Working to Bring You Breakthroughs in Philanthropy,

A warm welcome to our new Planned Giving Key subscribers!

Planned Giving Campaigns and Best Practices

My question, to clarify, is not about best practices for a planned giving program but whether it is best practices to even have one. This is definitely not a situation where one size fits all. But there are some criteria that help to broadly define when it's a good idea:

1. Your mission is relevant and ongoing (or at least long-term);
2. Your organization has been active for at least between seven and ten years;
3. Your organization's support comes largely from individuals (not institutions or the government);
4. Your supporters are loyal and consistent participants over many years;
5. You've done some donor research regarding your constituents' demographics and they are mostly members of the GI Generation and Baby Boomers with some Generation X thrown in the mix;
6. You've had contact with your donors and developed some relationships;
7. Your board members make annual gifts and have a vision for the future.

Under the above circumstances, it seems to me that planned gifts would be included in "fundraising best practices" since it secures a nonprofit's ability to always be innovative and cutting edge by providing future financial strength.

Yet I don't see a lot of board members pursuing this kind of fundraising. I'm not sure why but I have to assume that they don't consider it "best practices" for fundraising. They need to be further educated about how it works and what it does to ensure a nonprofit's ability to apply other forms of best practices to such areas as program and strategic planning.

If a board understands the value of planned giving, they will want it. They will issue a directive to the executive director or vice president of fundraising to start a program.

I can help you in educating your board members about the benefits of a planned giving campaign, and I would like to offer you a free phone mini-consultation to strategize with you about how to do it. I can give you some broad suggestions but no two situations are really alike. This call will have much better results. Please watch this video for details:

or email me at lgreif@easypg.com

If you're concerned that you may not know enough yourself to start a planned giving campaign (after you show your board all the benefits we'll discuss), you can work directly with me in the easyPG Program to get your campaign into action right away. It may be much easier than you think and could change your organizations's future.

 The  easyPG^® Program easypg.com/system.html

• Understand Planned Giving Vehicles And How to Use Them
• Feel Comfortable Discussing Gift Planning With Your Donors
• Be Knowledgeable and Helpful Regarding Donors' Charitable Needs
• Have A Proven Approach To A Successful Gift Planning Program
• Be Able To Raise Major Gifts That May Be Transformative For Your Nonprofit

LinkedIn Group - easyPG^®  Group to Create Successful Planned Giving Campaigns

Please join our easyPG^®  group and get into the conversation about planned giving - let us know if you "like" us.

Lorri M. Greif, CFRE, president of Breakthrough Philanthropy, Inc., and creator of the easyPG^® Program has worked for more than two decades in the nonprofit community focused on planned giving and major gifts.

She has created and implemented successful major gift and planned giving campaigns for both local and national nonprofits and her skill in training staff and leadership has made her a favorite speaker at planned giving seminars and conferences around the nation. 

Her unique experience in building or re-working varied major gift and planned giving fundraising campaigns from “the ground up” sets her apart from the crowd.

Lorri is a former board member of Women in Development (WID) and is still active on committees. She is also a member of the Association of Fund Raising Professionals (AFP), the Philanthropic Planning Group of Greater New York (PPGGNY), the Partnership for Philanthropic Planning (PPP), the American Council on Gift Annuities (ACGA), and served on the National Board of Gift-Planning Consultants for Planned Giving MENTOR™, a newsletter for beginners to gift planning. Her articles on gift planning and planned giving campaigns are widely published on line and in print and this year she is a member of the planning committee for the 2011 New York Philanthropic Symposium. She can be reached at lgreif@breakthroughphilanthropy.com or lgreif@easypg.com