Planned Giving Best Practices Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center 1
MSKCC Planned Giving Consistent planned giving marketing and growth for 20 years 16 staff members, including staff dedicated to stewardship and to administration Annual income $30 $60 million 15+ mailings per year Over 3,300 inquiries per year 650 open estates at any given time 2
Start With Your Donor Base Clean it up. Saves a lot of money. Do merge/purge (multiple lists and for your database). Check for and remove deceased donors. Start with a clean up back to beginning of file. MSK then does it monthly. US Postal Service requires NCOA to be done 95 days before each bulk mailing. Bring updated NCOA information into your database for acknowledgments, etc. 3
To Whom Are You Mailing? Age focus on older donors Do age overlay annually Commitment recency, frequency and number of gifts Wills want to be in donor s LAST will Gift annuities those with life expectancy of ten years or less 4
Marketing Plan Marketing Plan at beginning of fiscal year Try to schedule mailings so they don t conflict with others by your organization Adapt to external factors Incorporate analysis of prior years results use what works Record and keep as much data as you can during the year; it s useful, especially for justifying your program. 5
Marketing Materials Remember to whom you are mailing Older donors like: Large print Black print on white background, not this No shiny paper Classic font not too modern or hard to read Pictures they can relate to 6
Not this 7
Nothing too racy 8
This is more like it. 9
Pictures of Your Organization Remember medical can be scary Yes. No. 10
Besides the brochure Donor testimonial letters Keep control of the process Keep it as positive as possible Reply Cards Use postage paid BRE for them if possible Use source codes for tracking 11
Reply Card Example 12
Follow Up Get response out quickly Have clear, standard proposals for a variety of gifts Include disclosure information required by law Do follow up calls in a timely fashion three weeks after letter/proposal sent Thank, thank, thank 13
Closing the Gift/Handling a Bequest Notification Did I mention thank, thank, thank? Immediately hook up with person doing stewardship Don t drop the ball on agreements, tax letter, etc. for life income gifts Find as good an administrator as you can for gift annuity and pooled income fund programs Can be counterproductive to ask How much are we getting? 14
Stewardship 15
Stewardship Qualities of a steward A people person; must like senior citizens Flexible, enjoy travel Regular visits result in larger bequests and more life income gifts Donor recognition society Events Tailor event to your organization s strengths Can include prospects at larger events 16
Trusts and Estates Lucky if administration is within Development Have an attorney on retainer or trained inhouse counsel review; avoid pro bono Consistent follow up. Marketing and stewardship efforts are wasted if you don t collect what is due from an estate. Trust and Estate Advisory Committees are a nice extra 17
Analysis Track your results consistently. Need to do it awhile to see trends. Do a retrospective analysis of who makes planned gifts. Incorporate what you learn into your marketing plan. Test one change at a time 18
Management How to hire a good staff Choose people skills over technical Be flexible about experience The intangibles 19
Training Critical to keep up with what s going on in planned giving Try webinars in budget conscious times Other topics can be helpful Aging and dementia issues Donor visit best practices 20
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center Maintains separate departments for Planned Giving, Annual Giving, Major Gifts, Direct Mail, etc. In 2008 Processed 913,985 gifts Brought in $315,500,000 in cash Received $265,211,215 in gifts & pledges 21
MSK Planned Giving Facts 80% of PG donors have gift history 15% of gifts are from patients 22
What Makes Planned Giving at MSK Successful? Planned Giving is the largest department in development Planned Giving is integrated with Direct Mail, Annual Gifts and Major Gifts 23
How do we integrate? Direct Mail acts as base: focus on cultivating Planned Giving donors Movement up pyramid = less focus on planned gifts, but continued attention Mass Mailings Consistent Direct Mail ensures Planned Giving Information Request Check Boxes on every DM solicitation Target acquisition of donors 70 and older 24
Direct Mail Considers age of donor and potential for planned gift rather than just income to DM program Facilitates concentrated effort to bring in donors over 70 years old 25
Direct Mail-PG Facts Of the 1,805 trusts/estates closed since 2001, 66% first gave to MSK as a Direct Mail Donor Single largest source of bequest notifications 13% of DM pieces mailed in 2008 sent to bring on potential Planned Giving Donors 26
Example Adele B. Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center Retired NYC public school teacher and cancer survivor with relatives treated MSK Made first DM gift of $25 to MSK in 1993 Notified in will and retirement plan in 1998 Regularly visited by PG staff and attended bi-annual PG luncheons Made DM gifts in $25 range 1-3/year until 2006 and died in 2007 Received $500,000 bequest and $2,700 from retirement plan 27
Direct Mail-PG Stewardship Print size, paper type, etc. of mailings carefully considered in partnership with Planned Giving Majority of contacts with potential Planned Giving donors through Direct Mail solicitations DM and Planned Giving work closely to make sure DM solicits donors that fit PG profile on a regular basis regardless of giving history These donors mailed at least 3 times a year in renewal program even if they have fallen out of the mail plan Donors who have notified MSK that we are included in their estate plans receive every Newsletter and mailing 28
Annual Giving Extensive phone and mail outreach to donors making gifts $1,000 or more Ulitmate goal: migrate donors to Major Giving or uncover Planned Giving prospects 29
Annual Giving-PG Stewardship Annual Giving Officers encouraged to attend Introduction to Planned Giving conference Furthers understanding of Planned Giving and ability to pick up cues when making personal contact with donors Planned Giving and Annual Giving work in partnership on donor cultivation events When donors with potential Planned Giving inclination discovered, Annual Giving Officer works directly with Planned Giving to provide information about different giving vehicles 30
Major Gifts Multi-point personalized outreach to solicit and close outright gifts of $50,000+ Works with Planned Giving to maximize donor support both through outright major gifts and planned giving vehicles 31
Major Gifts-PG Facts In 2008 over 2000 potential Major Gift Donors contacted $1,711,483.05 in bequests from former MG donors 32
Major Gifts-PG Stewardship Major Gift Officers have extensive training in gift planning vehicles, and work closely with Planned Giving team to identify PG opportunities Getting Past No : If prospect is reluctant to make an outright gift, planned gift is another fundraising tool Planned Giving and Major Gifts work in partnership to produce effective donor cultivation events Upselling of current Planned Giving donors to maximize outright giving activity Customized PG mailings reach high-end MG donors within target age range 33