Marketing planned gifts: Part 1
Charities target donors in increasingly competitive market.
06.09.2005 -
By Todd Cohen
The Cleveland Orchestra pairs planned-giving donors as dinner companions with musicians whose chairs they endow.
The Jewish Federation of Cincinnati distributes print and email newsletters to planned-giving professionals and invites local residents wintering in Florida to a planned-giving seminar there.
And the Virginia-based American Diabetes Association closed two gift-annuity agreements totaling $130,000 in the first fiscal year after launching a planned-giving website.
With at least $41 trillion expected to pass between generations over the next 50 years, and at least $6 trillion of that expected to go to charity, a growing number of nonprofit organizations are turning to planned giving, and finding new ways to market it to donors, prospects and professional advisers.
Planned giving, once generally the focus of larger institutions and pursued with limited staff and strategies, has fueled an increasingly sophisticated, specialized and competitive industry, which also includes consultants and financial-services companies.
Effective marketing in that industry typically involves segmenting donors and delivering materials geared to their wealth, age and giving history, experts said, and focuses on targeting new prospects and cultivating existing donors, as well as building relationships with professional advisers.
"Getting the right message to the right person at the right time is the real focus of planned-giving marketing," says Margaret Holman, president of Holman Consulting in New York City.
Other articles in the series:
Part 2: Charities tailor planned-giving message, medium.
Part 3: Fundraisers segment planned-giving prospects.
Part 4: Charities mix multiple strategies to reach donors.
Making progress: An essay, Part 1
Philanthropy, more targeted and strategic, works for change.
06.09.2005 -
By Todd Cohen
Philanthropy in
Rooted in a legacy of righting social wrongs and enriching civic life, philanthropy in our state over the last 25 years has grown quickly, become more targeted and strategic, and helped build one of the strongest nonprofit sectors in the
Now, as the economy stumbles, social problems escalate and government retreats from seeking and delivering solutions, the job of healing and repairing our communities increasingly falls to charitable foundations, donors, corporate givers, nonprofits and volunteers.
And as innovation and technology transform how we live and work, philanthropy must move beyond business as usual, embrace the urgent job of strengthening nonprofit operations and shaping public policy, and unleash new sources of charitable wealth, knowledge and volunteerism.
Compared to a generation ago,
But huge challenges remain. Philanthropy can do much more to equip nonprofits to be more productive, collaborative and entrepreneurial, and get more involved in attacking social problems at their roots.
Those social ills are enormous. Many North Carolinians struggle without food, shelter, health care, education or jobs. And true progress on the entrenched and complex issues of race, intolerance, violence and social justice will remain a dream unless we overhaul how we think about and take part in policy-making.
Because the supply of charitable resources cannot begin to meet demand for basic services, funders must prod nonprofits, government and business to work together to broaden access to resources and services most of us take for granted, a big challenge as government gridlock and near-sightedness clog efforts to change flawed and outdated policies.
Foundations, corporate-giving programs and individual donors also can foster innovative research and thinking to expand the very idea of philanthropy and spur new ways to give, volunteer, work together and share knowledge.
Despite its strengths, philanthropy is hurting and needs to heal itself. Cases of wrongdoing and excess resulting from poor business judgment at foundations and nonprofits have eroded trust and drawn closer scrutiny from regulators and lawmakers likely to toughen their policing of charitable organizations. Charities must restore trust and clear up confusion about what went wrong, from bad audits to poor board oversight of managers.
Whatever government does, philanthropy must get its own house in order. Funders must take stock of themselves with brutal honesty, a rare commodity in a business in which wealth and the power it creates foster an unearned sense of wisdom and righteousness. To help restore trust as they retool, funders should enlist outside board members who reflect their communities and can question business as usual.
Funders exercise enormous power over how nonprofits operate and deliver services. By cleaning up their own act, funders can be more informed and trusted partners to guide new donors and help nonprofits become more accountable and plug into and work with new sources of wealth.
Despite its mistakes, philanthropy in North Carolina has continued to build on its legacy of social justice and progress. The challenge now for philanthropy is to keep improving its practices, better prepare nonprofits to take on social ills and become a more effective voice and force for change.
[Editor's note: This article first appeared in the 2004 annual report of the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation in Winston-Salem, N.C.]
Other articles in the series:
Part 2: Philanthropic legacy rooted in wealth from traditional industries.
Part 3: Philanthropy plows new ground to address critical problems.
Part 4: Philanthropy expands to engage new markets.
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