Free Webinar Will Help You Get Great Results

Fundraising can certainly be challenging. Have you ever wondered:

• How can I raise more money at little or no extra cost?
• Is my organization ready for a planned giving program?
• What simple planned giving vehicles should I promote?
• What is my organization’s Bequest giving potential?
• Who are my best planned giving prospects?
• Do I need to be an expert to do planned giving?
• What motivates planned giving donors?
• How should I ask for planned gifts?

If you’ve ever asked yourself any of those questions, then I have the perfect free webinar for you.

I’m presenting “Planned Giving: It’s Easier than You Think!” During my free webinar, hosted by Wild Woman Fundraising, you’ll get answers to all of the above questions and more. In short, you’ll learn how to easily launch and grow a successful planned giving program.

For many nonprofit professionals, planned giving sounds complicated, with its CRUTs, CRATs, CLUTs, and CLATs. Admittedly, gift planning can indeed be incredibly complex. However, as this free webinar will demonstrate, it does not have to be. Furthermore, a planned giving program can be enormously worthwhile for virtually any organization, even those with little or no budget for it.

For valuable tips to help you grow your planned giving results, register for my free webinar today, “Planned Giving: It’s Easier than You Think!” [July 17, 2015, 3:00-4:00 PM (EDT)]. To register, CLICK HERE.

As a webinar participant, you will receive a number of bonus handouts including:

Are You Wasting Time by Hunting Unicorns?

Go to any fundraising conference, and you’ll find unicorn hunters. You might even be one. You can see the unicorn hunters in seminar sessions about Charitable Remainder Annuity Trusts (CRATs), Charitable Lead Trusts (CLTs), and Charitable Remainder Uni-Trusts (CRUTs).

Unicorn hunters believe that Trusts are the cornerstone to a healthy planned giving program. Unicorn hunters scour the wealthiest portion of their donor files to find Trust prospects and then focus an enormous amount of time and energy trying to close big Trust gifts.

Some would-be unicorn hunters are overwhelmed by the hunt. They fear they have no prospects and/or they fear they have insufficient knowledge to pursue such gifts. So, they don’t implement any kind of planned giving effort.

Well, here’s your reality check, courtesy of Giving USA 2015: The Annual Report on Philanthropy for the Year 2014.

As the chart below reveals, the number of Trusts is tiny compared to the number of Public Charities which stood at 963,234 in 2012 (not including religious congregations and organizations with less than $5,000 in revenue), according to the Urban Institute’s The Nonprofit Sector in Brief 2014.

Even if every single charity that received a Trust gift only received one, that would mean that less than 12 percent of charities would have received a Trust gift in 2012. In other words, the likelihood that a fundraiser will close a Trust gift is very small in any given year. Moreover, the odds have been getting smaller as the number of charities has grown while the number of Trusts has declined.

Of course, that’s not quite how it works in the real world. In the real world, large organizations with large donor files containing plenty of wealthy supporters are far more likely to close Trust gifts than smaller organizations with smaller donor lists. If you don’t work at a large, established organization, the chances that you’ll close a Trust gift this year are miniscule.

 

While the dollars associated with Trust gifts are certainly significant, the actual number of such gifts is small. By contrast, far more people name a charity in their will, make beneficiary designations, give appreciated securities or personal property, or donate from their IRAs.

Keeping your eyes open for Trust-gift opportunities can be beneficial. However, you’re much more likely to close other types of planned gifts. This means:

Are You Throwing Away Planned Gift Opportunities?

Since 1974, Charitable Bequest gifts have totaled seven to nine percent of overall philanthropic giving.

In 2014, Bequest revenue totaled $28.13 billion, accounting for eight percent of overall giving and an increase over 2013 of 13.6 percent (adjusted for inflation). These figures come from the recently released Giving USA 2015: The Annual Report on Philanthropy for the Year 2014.

Here are some questions to help you determine if your organization is getting its appropriate share of the Charitable Bequest pie:

Does your organization have a planned giving program?

If your organization has a planned giving program, good for you; skip to the next question.

If your organization does not have a planned giving program, why not? The only valid reason for not promoting planned giving is that your organization does not have any individual donors. If your organization has individual donors, there’s no reason not to have a planned giving effort.

While smaller nonprofit organizations might not have elaborate, sophisticated planned giving programs, they can certainly promote Bequest giving, gifts through beneficiary designations, gifts of life insurance, donations from IRAs (when permitted by the government), contributions of appreciated stock, and gifts of personal property.

By promoting planned giving, even small charities can get a slice of the Bequest pie. Not only that, they can even help grow the pie. Just over five percent of Americans name a charity in their will. However, one-third say they would be willing to consider including a charity in their will. There is a massive chasm between these two figures. If more nonprofits ask more people for more planned gifts, we could see far more than five percent of Americans including a charity in their will.

To learn more about planned gifts any organization can seek and how to get them, register for my free webinar “Planned Giving: It’s Easier than You Think!,” hosted by Wild Woman Fundraising on July 17, 2015, 3:00 PM (ET) to 4:30 PM (ET).

Do you have a ROBUST planned giving program?

Okay, you have a planned giving program. Good. But, is it a robust effort or do you simply market passively or focus primarily on your wealthiest donors?

If you simply market passively and expect your donors to make a planned gift without being asked, you’re missing out on gifts your organization should be getting. Just like with any other type of fundraising, you actually have to ask for Bequest commitments if you want them.

If you focus only on your wealthiest, biggest donors, you’re missing a huge opportunity to grow your results. Yes, it’s true that wealthy donors leave the most to charities. In 2014, “estimated Bequest giving from estates with assets $1 million and above amounted to $22.12 billion,” according to Giving USA 2015, while “estimated Bequest giving from estates with assets below $1 million amounted to $6.01 billion.” However, there’s still a lot of money being raised from less wealthy supporters. And there is tremendous potential to raise even more from these individuals.

Here’s what Giving USA 2015 has to say about prospecting for Bequest intentions:

Strong American Philanthropy at a Record High!

Americans donated an estimated $358.38 billion in 2014, surpassing the peak last seen before the Great Recession, according to the 60th anniversary edition of Giving USA, released today. That overall total slightly exceeds the benchmark year of 2007, when giving hit an estimated inflation-adjusted total of $355.17 billion. However, Individual giving has yet to recover fully.

The 2014 philanthropy total increased by 5.4 percent, when inflation adjusted, over the revised estimate of $339.94 billion that Americans donated in 2013. Giving has grown for each of the previous five years. The growth in 2014 significantly outpaces the average growth rate of 3.4 percent (inflation adjusted) during the past five-year period.

All four sources of contributions that comprise total giving increased in 2014:

• Individuals (72 percent of the total, 4 percent inflation-adjusted increase)
• Corporations (5 percent of the total, 11.9 percent inflation-adjusted increase)
• Foundations (15 percent of the total, 8.2 percent inflation-adjusted increase)
• Bequests (8 percent of the total, 13.6 inflation-adjusted increase)

“The 60 year high for total giving is a great story about resilience and perseverance,” says W. Keith Curtis, Chairman of the Giving USA Foundation and President of The Curtis Group. “It’s also interesting to consider that growth was across the board, even though criteria used to make decisions about giving differ for each source.”

When combining the Individual and Bequest numbers, we see that individuals contributed 80 percent of all dollars given to charity in 2014. If we include family foundation giving, individual philanthropy accounted for 87 percent of all dollars given in 2014, according to Patrick Rooney, PhD, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Research at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. Large Individual gifts of $200 million or more accounted for a significant portion of the overall growth in Individual giving while the actual number of gifts over $1 million has decreased.

“We saw several very large gifts greater than $200 million — a few were greater than $500 million and one was nearly $2 billion — in 2014,” says Rooney. “The majority of these mega-gifts were given by relatively young tech entrepreneurs.”

Looking at the nine gift recipient categories, all but one saw an increase in giving:

How to Train Your Un-trainable Board to Raise More Money

I’m a fan of Andrea Kihlstedt. I continue to use her book, Capital Campaigns: Strategies That Work, when teaching graduate “Advanced Fund Development” at Drexel University. So, I was naturally quite interested when Emerson & Church Publishers released her latest book, co-authored with Andy Robinson: Train Your Board (And Everyone Else) to Raise Money.

Kihlstedt and Robinson have put together a book that’s different from any other fundraising book on the market. Really. As they put it, it’s “A cookbook of easy-to-use fundraising exercises” to help your board members, volunteers, and staff more fully engage in the development process.

Each of the 53 “exercises has a brief introduction, a list of ingredients, instructions for facilitating the activity, and a training tip to help improve your skills.” The authors draw the exercises from some of the best trainers in the field.

Here’s a list of just some of the “Suggested Menus”:

• Give Confidence to the Fundraising Phobic
• Get Everyone Involved in Fundraising
• New Board Member Training
• Agenda for a Full-Day Retreat
• Train Your Program Staff about Fundraising
• Prepare for Your Major Gifts Campaign
• Quick and Easy: 20 Minutes or Less

Each “suggested menu” lists at least five relevant “recipes,” training exercises.

This book represents a powerful resource for any nonprofit organization. Here are just some of the benefits you’ll get from the book:

• Without studying to be a trainer, you’ll be able to facilitate high impact, effective training sessions.
• You’ll help your board members develop more confidence and greater fundraising skills.
• You’ll get your board more engaged in the fundraising process.
• You’ll gain greater insights that will help you be a more successful fundraising professional.

As Simone Joyaux, ACFRE, the internationally recognized fundraising consultant, says, “This book can help you — a lot!”

This week, I’ve invited Kihlstedt to share some of her wisdom with us. In addition, she shares a free copy of one the exercises from the book:

 

Are your board members chomping at the bit to go and ask their friends for money?

If your answer is a resounding “Yes,” then you must have found some magic potion or concocted a special courage drink. And the nonprofit world will be beating down your door for the recipe.

Most board members shrink at the very thought of asking their friends for money. My colleagues and I have asked them why they hesitate and here are some of the reasons they state:

• I don’t know anyone with money.
• I don’t want to “hit up” my friends.
• It makes me feel uncomfortable.

But most often, board members say they don’t feel prepared. They don’t know what to say or how to say it or what to ask for.

Imagine for a minute what it would feel like if your board members were excited about asking their friends for money.

Imagine if they started calling you for the names of donors they’d like to contact.

What if — without your prodding — each of them contacted several donors a month, asked them for gifts, and were successful much of the time.

I’ll bet your job would be quite different. Not only would you be raising more money, but your board meetings would be buzzing with a sense of commitment and energy.

So, it’s worth doing everything you can to get your board members to be comfortable with and excited about helping to raise money.

There are a number of reasons why your board members don’t learn, but you can teach them.

It’s entirely possible to teach your board members to be great fundraisers, but here’s the catch:

Adults seldom learn by being told what to do and how to do it. And your board members are no exception.

The realities of training your board members (or any other adult) are these:

Do You Care If I Renew My CFRE? Vote Now.

I’m frustrated.

I’ve been a Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE) since 1994. That means I’ve held the credential longer than at least 89 percent of all current CFREs! I’ve also taught the CFRE Review Course. Clearly, I’m committed to the idea of professional certification for fundraising practitioners.

Unfortunately, the CFRE designation has failed to realize its potential. In fact, the credential is becoming less, rather than more, relevant.

That’s why I’ve tentatively decided not to renew my certification this month UNLESS you tell me I should renew.

I’ve come up with a creative way for you to vote. My method will allow you to not only register a vote in favor of renewal, you’ll be able to convey how passionately you feel about renewal. To vote in favor of my renewal, simply go to my GoFundMe site (VOTE: Michael’s CFRE Renewal Fund) and make a donation. I estimate that renewing my CFRE and running this mini-campaign will cost approximately $600. If you think I should renew, contribute one dollar. If you feel more strongly that I should renew, contribute more, up to the $600 goal.

If we reach the goal of $600 by June 14, 2015, I will submit my renewal application to CFRE International. If we do not reach the goal, I will evaluate the feedback I receive and make a final decision about renewal by June 14. In any case, I will donate any unused funds to either CFRE International or the Association of Fundraising Professionals Foundation. Donations to this mini-campaign are not tax-deductible.

If you believe that I should not bother renewing my CFRE designation, you do not have to do anything to register your vote. I’ll see how many people visit this blog post and be able to compare that number with the number of people who vote with their dollars. So, I’ll see how many readers are voting by not actively voting.

With this method of voting, I will be able to gauge not just how much casual support there is for CFRE, but how much passionate support there is.

For now, I’m not passionate enough about CFRE to continue to spend my own money on renewal. Let me explain my position:

Lack of Commitment. By tentatively deciding not to renew my certification, I’m in good company. Of the eight past Board Chairs of CFRE International, the organization that controls the credential, three did not hold the CFRE designation as of 2013, according to the group’s annual report. In other words, 37.5 percent of past CFRE International Board Chairs do not hold the CFRE designation!

While CFRE International claims to have a high overall retention rate among CFREs, there is really no way to evaluate this. All the numbers reported by CFRE International prior to 2013 are suspect, according to Eva Aldrich, CFRE, President/CEO of CFRE International.

Anemic Numbers. Supposedly, a new technology system now allows for accurate reporting. Nevertheless, Aldrich has refused multiple requests to provide counts of the number of CFREs by country. So, we have no way of knowing, for example, whether the number of CFREs in the USA is growing, shrinking, or remaining the same. However, since 85 to 90 percent of all CFREs reside in the USA, I’ll assume, for the sake of this post, that the American CFRE growth rate is comparable to the overall growth rate.

In January 2015, CFRE International issued a statement, complete with a photo of fireworks, boasting that its 5,451 CFREs in 2014 represented a three percent growth rate over 2013. (Incidentally, the number of CFREs reported for 2012 was 5,630, which Aldrich now conveniently claims, was an inaccurate number; she further claims that she cannot ascertain the real number nor can she even estimate the degree of variance.)

The 2013-2014 growth rate of three percent seemed modest to me, certainly not worthy of fireworks. So, I did some research. Using data reported by The Urban Institute, I discovered that the growth rate among nonprofit organizations with revenue of $500,000 or more — in other words, among those organizations most likely to have someone on staff doing at least some professional fundraising — the growth rate was 3.6 percent. What this means is that the universe of nonprofit organizations doing fundraising has grown faster than the number of CFREs.

I’ll express this another way: Despite its modest growth, CFRE is growing more slowly than the market and, therefore, is actually losing market share.

CFRE is becoming less relevant!