 Planned Giving Leads Don’t Generate Themselves – But They Can Be SparkedI used to think donor interviews for our legacy giving newsletter were just good stewardship – a warm thank-you to generous folks who’d already made a planned gift. Back then, part of my “gal Friday” role at the university was to call these donors, hear their stories, and write up little features for our newsletter. It felt like we were shining a light on their kindness and leaving it at that. Then something surprising happened. After a few issues, my inbox started filling with messages:
Planned giving can feel awkward to talk about – it’s wrapped up in big questions about life, death, and legacy. But when donors see someone just like them, sharing why they chose to leave a gift, it shifts the conversation. Suddenly it’s not about confronting mortality – it’s about hope for the future. And when those leads came in, the follow-up conversations weren’t awkward at all. I wasn’t “convincing” anyone; I was simply giving them the tools they’d already decided they wanted. If you have even one donor who’s named your organization in their will, you have a powerful story to tell. And those stories can spark more conversations – and more commitments – than any brochure or website copy ever could. Here are five simple, effective ways to start generating planned giving leads right now, starting with the most important one… 1. Collect and share meaningful donor testimonials.Start with real people who’ve already made a legacy commitment. Interview them, ask thoughtful questions, and tell their story with heart. These five questions help bring their motivations to life:
2. Build a simple landing page to support the conversation.You need a place to send people who want more info – don’t make them hunt for it. This doesn’t have to be complicated. Just make sure it includes:
3. Use National Estate Planning Awareness Week (October) to shine a light.This is your annual window to talk openly about legacy giving – especially with donor stories. Tie them to helpful content like estate planning tips, FAQs, or “3 Easy Ways to Leave a Legacy” guides. Light, approachable, and packed with value. 4. Reinforce with your own “Legacy Giving Week” in the spring.Don’t let October do all the heavy lifting. Bring it back around with a spring campaign using your existing content – maybe add a new testimonial, or reframe the messaging. Familiarity builds comfort. 5. Add a 30-second legacy survey to your direct mail reply cards.Flip that reply device over and include a quick checkbox survey: ☑ I’ve already included [Org Name] in my estate plans ☑ I’d like more information ☑ Please send me sample bequest language This low-lift tweak has sparked real results for many nonprofits – and costs zero extra to implement.  If your nonprofit does just these five things, you’ll be light years ahead of most organizations in planned giving marketing. And the best part? None of them require new dollars in the budget. That’s a win for your donors – and a big step toward your organization’s long-term financial stability. 🎉 Ready to make it even easier? Grab the Celebrate National Estate Planning Awareness Week Bundle – just $84.99! 🎉 Planned giving is one of the most powerful ways to future-proof your mission – and October is the perfect time to talk about it. This digital bundle is packed with tools to help you celebrate, educate, and inspire your supporters to leave a lasting legacy. Here’s what’s inside:
💡 Total value: $114.95 – You pay just $84.99. That’s 26% off. And here’s the kicker:
📥 Once you purchase, you’ll receive a downloadable PDF with links, setup instructions, and a tutorial video to walk you through the whole process. 👩💼 Made by me – Jessica Neno Cloud, CFRE – with 20+ years in the field helping fundraisers like you take real, doable steps toward long-term success. 👉 Ready to roll? Get your bundle now and make this October count. Cheers!  P.S. Like this kind of insight? Subscribe to Real Deal Fundraising and get my best articles, tools, and curated resources every week – including webinars, videos, and free downloads. If you liked this…
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 The 3 Questions Donors Ask About IRA Rollover Gifts (and How to Answer Them)IRA rollovers are the best of both worlds. They let donors give from their assets, not their income – so these gifts are often larger than what someone could give from their checkbook. And here’s the best part: the funds can be put to use immediately by the nonprofit. Still, many fundraisers hesitate to talk about Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs) – also known as IRA rollover gifts – because they don’t feel confident answering donor questions. But here’s the truth: donors rarely ask complicated questions. They just want to understand the basics. If we want to receive these powerful gifts, we need to be ready with clear, simple answers. Here are the top three questions I hear most often – plus how to respond in a way that builds trust and inspires action. 1. “Will this affect my taxes?”Yes – in a good way. If you're 70½ or older, you can give directly from your IRA to a qualified charity without increasing your taxable income. For donors over 73, that gift can count toward your Required Minimum Distribution (RMD). So you're meeting a federal requirement and supporting a cause you love – without taking the tax hit. 2. “How hard is this to do?”Honestly? It’s very doable. If your IRA account includes check-writing privileges, you can write a check directly to the nonprofit. If not, a quick call to your broker or account manager will do the trick. Just make sure the funds go directly from the IRA to the charity. If they hit your personal account – even briefly – they become taxable. 3. “How much can I give this way?”In 2025, the annual QCD limit is $108,000 per individual, indexed for inflation. If both spouses have IRAs, a household can give up to $216,000 in a single year. Keep in mind: this is the total giving limit per IRA account per tax year. So if you've already made other QCDs this year, you’ll want to keep a tally toward that annual cap. Donors Are Asking – Are You Ready to Answer?If you’re not already promoting IRA rollovers, this is the time to start. And no – you don’t have to start from scratch. ✅ Grab the IRA Rollover Promotion Bundle – Everything You Need to Promote QCDs This $99 bundle includes:
You’ll get a downloadable PDF with links to every template, setup instructions, and a short tutorial video. Created by me – Jessica Neno Cloud, CFRE – after 20+ years in fundraising, this bundle is built to help you raise more, with less stress and guesswork. From 2019 to 2021, giving through IRAs jumped 390%. This isn’t a trend – it’s a tidal wave. Let’s make sure your nonprofit is riding it. Want a free way to get started? Download my free resource, Calendar of IRA Rollover Promotions – a simple tool to help you map out smart, strategic outreach across the calendar year. 👉 Download the Free Calendar Cheers!  P.S. Like this kind of insight? Subscribe to Real Deal Fundraising and get my best articles, tools, and curated resources every week – including webinars, videos, and free downloads. IRA Rollover References Resources If you liked this…
 If you work for a small nonprofit like I do, you probably know that it's hard to find time to work on planned giving. Planned gifts don't usually help you reach that all-important year-end fundraising goal, and there's a lot of technical terminology that, as a new fundraiser, you may not feel confident in discussing with donors. In this article, I will give you lots of reasons why you should be promoting planned gifts, a feasible plan to get started, and help demystify some of the basic terminology. National Estate Planning Awareness Week (NEPAW), held annually during the third week of October, is a prime opportunity for nonprofits to highlight the importance of estate planning and the opportunities of estate gifts. The goal of NEPAW is to increase public awareness of the need for proper estate planning, which can benefit individuals and their chosen charitable organizations significantly. My hope is this article will spur you to prepare now to fully leverage National Estate Planning Awareness Week so planned giving leads come to you! The Relationship between annual giving and planned givingDonors make annual gifts from income. Donors make planned gifts from assets. The connection comes because planned gifts usually come from your most loyal supporters not necessarily the wealthiest. This is why you should never undervalue annual gifts and you should have a consecutive year giving society to cultivate those donors and encourage loyalty. Planned gifts are usually much significantly larger than annual gifts because they are made from assets accumulated over a lifetime. In fact, according to industry reports, planned gifts are typically 200-300 times the size of an average annual donation, underscoring their importance for long-term financial health of the nonprofits we work to support. Cultivate your annual donors and you will be surprised how willing they are to discuss a planned gift with you. That is their legacy to a cause that they have shown through many years of generosity means much to them. Larger planned gifts rarely fall out of the sky from mysterious anonymous donors. The donors who will make the largest planned gifts your organization will ever receive are already in your database! And they are giving at much more modest levels than you expect. Strong stewardship of annual donors is the key to planned giving success. It takes a while, but the payoff is extraordinary. These are the folks that are here for your mission and invested in your organization’s long-term success. Now that you know who your planned giving prospects are, you can target educational messages about planned giving opportunities to them, meeting them where they are. Knowing that our best planned giving prospects are your nonprofit’s most loyal annual donors and fans, take the messaging to them on the same platforms you use for annual giving: mail, email, your website, and social media. Increase AwarenesS Many folks are unaware of the substantial benefits that planned giving can offer both to themselves and to the nonprofits they support. NEPAW provides an ideal platform to educate donors about the various forms of planned giving, including bequests and beneficiary designations. Planned gifts often provide significant tax benefits to the donor while offering a critical revenue stream for nonprofits. By focusing on the dual advantages of planned giving, nonprofits can attract more interest and commitment from potential donors. Build Trust and CredibilitY Demonstrating a well-organized planned giving program can significantly enhance a nonprofit's credibility. By displaying their expertise and commitment to planned giving during NEPAW, nonprofits can build trust with potential donors. This confidence is crucial, as donors are more likely to include organizations they trust within their estate plans. Providing clear, accessible information can demystify the process of planned giving and encourage more donors to consider it as part of their estate planning. Reuse and Recycle Planned Giving ContenT Whatever content you create for National Estate Planning Awareness Week can be repurposed throughout the year by designating another time as <<Your Organization>>’s Legacy Giving Week! Simply choose a date or week that resonates with your organization—perhaps a meaningful anniversary or milestone—but don't feel limited to that. You can pick any week that works best for your team and your supporters. Once you have those dates, swap out "National Estate Planning Awareness Week" with "<<Your Organization>>’s Legacy Giving Week” in your plan. This simple tweak allows you to maximize the impact of your carefully crafted materials and engage your community in planned giving conversations multiple times a year! TACTICS FOR SUCCESSTactic #1: Planned Giving Landing Page Having a landing page on your website about planned giving opportunities doesn’t have to be complicated. You can start by just highlighting the two simplest, most common vehicles for planned gifts: bequests and beneficiary designations. But having some resources available on your website signals that you accept and encourage these kinds of gifts. Tactic #2: Educational Campaigns Nonprofits can launch educational campaigns during NEPAW to inform donors about the benefits of planned giving. These campaigns can include webinars and workshops but can also be as simple as informative content distributed via newsletters, emails, and social media. These campaigns can push your prospects to your landing page for more information and to contact your staff. Bringing the planned giving leads straight to your inbox. Tactic #3: Partnerships Forming partnerships with financial advisors, estate planners, and legal professionals can enhance the nonprofit's planned giving program. These partnerships can provide donors with the expert advice they need to make informed decisions about their estate plans. While there are lots of potential benefits, this strategy can be time-consuming if you don’t already know one of these professionals. It is worth putting these sorts of skills on your wish list for board members and volunteers though. Tactic #4: Testimonials Highlighting success stories and testimonials from planned giving donors can be a powerful way to inspire action. The absolute BEST way to do this is by crafting a donor profile of someone who has already set up a bequest or other planned gift to your nonprofit. If you have a generous supporter in mind, reach out and ask if they’d be willing to share their story during National Estate Planning Awareness Week. Send them a few thoughtful questions and ask for permission to highlight their journey. Most donors will be thrilled to express their love for your mission and inspire others to give. Don’t forget to ask for a photo or two to accompany their story, and make sure they’re comfortable with sharing not just that they made a planned gift but also the amount. (Some donors are comfortable with one but not the other.) Use this story strategically during NEPAW: share it as an extra social media post on Monday, include it in the Tuesday email blast, and feature it in the final Monday recap email of your campaign. Here are some questions to guide the testimonial:
The Easiest Place to Start: Bequests and Beneficiary DesignationS BEQUESTS Bequests are the simplest, most flexible, and most versatile way to ensure that donors can help nonprofits continue our work for years to come. There are numerous options when it comes to bequests:
BENEFICIARY DESIGNATIONS Making a nonprofit the beneficiary of some of their assets is an easy method for donors to support your organization. All they need to do is name your organization as a beneficiary to receive assets such as retirement plans and life insurance policies after the donor’s lifetime. The donor would simply fill out a form that is entirely separate from their will—which makes this approach an uncomplicated way to give. Not only are beneficiary designations an easy way to give, but they are also flexible — donors aren’t locked into their choices today. Donors can review and adjust beneficiary designations anytime they want. They can make your organization a sole or partial beneficiary of a retirement account or an insurance policy. Beneficiary Designation Checklist:
This is great but I still don’t have the time... Educating donors about planned giving opportunities, like bequests and beneficiary designations, can be highly beneficial for nonprofits. The reality is that nonprofits cannot afford to ignore planned giving, whether we feel we have time or not. Here are some key points to emphasize:
QUESTION FOR YOU? Do you utilize National Estate Planning Awareness Week or have some other routine educational campaign about planned giving for your supporters? What have you found that works best to generate interest about planned giving? Let me know in the comments! Lastly, I understand the complexities of time with a small nonprofit staff. Maybe you are a solo fundraiser for an organization or perhaps you are a CEO or founder, or board member and your organization doesn’t yet have a dedicated fundraiser on staff? If that’s you, I’ve designed a way to enhance your planned giving program with minimal effort. With National Estate Planning Awareness Week just around the corner (October), I've got the perfect solution to save you time and effort without sacrificing your nonprofit's unique branding and voice. Check out my Celebrate National Estate Planning Awareness Week Bundle for only $84.99! Read the PS on this post to see what’s included. Cheers!  PS - What's Inside the Celebrate National Estate Planning Awareness Week Bundle?:
Why You Need This Bundle:
PPS - I hope you’ll continue the conversation by subscribing to Real Deal Fundraising. When you subscribe, you’ll get my monthly newsletter email, which includes the best articles on fundraising, productivity and cool stuff every week. The whole thing is weekly curated awesomeness as well as freebies like webinars, instructional videos, and whatever else I can put together to be helpful to you! If you liked this post, you may also like these:
 Back when I worked for The University of Southern Mississippi Foundation, I ran a few casually informative campaigns promoting IRA rollover gifts, but like many fundraisers, I didn’t think of them as crucial to meeting our goals. I’ll admit I didn’t realize the power of the IRA Rollover, otherwise known as Qualified Charitable Distributions. When I began working for Starr King School for the Ministry, one of the members of my Advancement Committee suggested that we put more emphasis on IRA Rollovers in our calendar year end campaign. As a small school with very small fundraising shop (me and one other employee doing gift processing), I honestly didn’t feel like we had the bandwidth to pursue this additional messaging. (Something I bet many of you can resonate with!) However, I used my previous templates from my work at the USM Foundation and we sent out letters and emails during that December. This was the first time this school had ever mentioned IRA Rollovers. Was it a coincidence that by February we had a long-time monthly donor call and offer to gift the school the entirety of her retirement account? Maybe, but I tend to think that’s unlikely. While we spread that gift out over a 6-year period for tax reasons, that gift surpassed over half a million dollars for the school! The next year, we greatly expanded how we promoted IRA Rollovers, utilizing video, email, letters, and social media to educate our donors. Each year more constituents began to give via rollover and I do not think we have seen the crest of this wave yet. As you can tell, IRA rollovers hold immense potential for both retirees and nonprofit organizations. Here's everything you need to know about them and why they're more significant than you might realize. The Growing Importance of IRAs According to Freewill, a company that helps nonprofits market planned giving opportunities, in 2021, a staggering $13 trillion was held in Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) in the United States. With 10,000 Baby Boomers turning 65 every day, the importance of understanding IRA rollovers is greater than ever. As these Boomers reach retirement age, they face critical financial decisions, one of which is the Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) that kicks in at age 72. If IRA owners fail to take their RMD, they can incur a hefty tax penalty. On the flip side, if they do take it, it's taxed as regular income. Why IRA Rollovers are ✨Amazing✨ IRA rollovers are not just beneficial for nonprofits; they offer significant advantages to donors as well. Here’s why they are truly amazing:
The Overlooked Goldmine for Nonprofits Despite the substantial sums involved, many nonprofits are not capitalizing on the potential of IRA rollovers. In 2021, a shocking 43% of nonprofits reported that they didn’t promote rollovers. This oversight is significant, especially considering that most IRA rollovers come in at the $1,000-$5,000 range (Freewill). Furthermore, 96% of nonprofits believe that donor awareness about IRA rollovers is insufficient. This lack of promotion and awareness translates to missed opportunities for substantial donations. The Power of Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs) For those over age 70, a QCD can be an ideal way to make their annual charitable gift. QCDs are typically much larger than post-tax gifts, offering a more substantial benefit to nonprofits. Additionally, organizations that market QCDs at least three times per year are 3.2 times more likely to receive ten or more QCD gifts. The Role of Marketing and Communication Effective communication is crucial in promoting IRA rollovers. After direct one-on-one conversations with gift officers, having information about rollovers on the nonprofit's website is the second most important promotional factor. Interestingly, 46% of QCD gifts come from previous donors, highlighting the importance of nurturing existing relationships through consistent and clear communication. Conclusion: A Call to Action for Nonprofits Nonprofits cannot afford to ignore the potential of IRA rollovers. By raising awareness and actively promoting QCDs, organizations can tap into a significant source of funding. Whether through direct conversations, informative website content, or regular marketing efforts, it’s time for nonprofits to educate their donors about the benefits of IRA rollovers. By doing so, they can unlock a steady stream of donations that support their mission and make a lasting impact. Remember, the more informed and engaged your donors are, the more likely they are to contribute through their IRAs, ensuring your nonprofit can thrive and continue its valuable work. Cheers!  Get Your Free Resource: "Calendar of IRA Rollover Promotions"
To help you get started, download our free resource, "Calendar of IRA Rollover Promotions." This calendar is designed to help your nonprofit strategically plan and execute effective IRA rollover promotions throughout the year. Download Now. If you are ready to get started right away… Visit the Real Deal Fundraising Etsy Shop where you can download 28 customizable templates based in the IRA Rollover Promotion Bundle – including web copy, video scripts, email templates, social media templates and an informative slide deck which can be used with donors or to train staff! 🌟 |
Jessica Cloud, CFREI've been called the Tasmanian Devil of fundraising and I'm here to talk shop with you. Archives
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