Did you know that it’s National Planned Giving Awareness week? This week is sponsored by NAEPC, the National Association of Estate Planners and Councils.

Given the focus of this week it’s a good time to ask, are you working with planned giving prospects? If so, have you read the September 2017 edition of the Chronicle of Philanthropy?

If not run, don’t walk, to the nearest library or order this edition online. The main story is titled: Raising Money from the Modern Family and it’s clear that family is not the same as it used to be. Changes in what constitutes a family, or whether one has a “family” at all, has significant implications for fundraising, particularly planned giving.

One of the most startling stats in the article Big Planned Gifts in Offing as Childless Boomers Age is:

20% of women age 51-56 are childless

That compares to 9.5% women “currently 77-81” that are childless — double the percentage of childless women. However, just because there are many childless women doesn’t necessarily mean that they could be planned giving donors (or could they?). Another stat from the article:

Over 8.2 million childless American have assets of $1M or more

So why do childless people give? This is where stats fail us — people who did not have children are like other people, they want to:

Leave a Legacy

But how does one leave a legacy, and to and for whom, when you don’t have children? This is where legacy letters come in . . . such a letter can help you and your loyal donors outline their:

Ikigai, their “reason for being,” and

define their legacy

As Advancement Resources might say, you want to uncover what a prospective donor is passionate about. Why? Because then you are much more likely to be able to engage in deep and meaningful conversation about how they can leave a legacy at your nonprofit.

What to know more? You can read my blog post: Moving Beyond Marketing & Metrics: 1 Deeper Planned Giving Cultivation Approach or you can contact me at sophie@i5fundraising.com. I can provide a legacy letter writing workshop for your legacy giving society or working with individual donors who seek to define and outline their legacy.

I look forward to hearing from you.