Imagine the day when you walk into a meeting with the chair of the board for your organization and you confidently report that there are legacy expectancies in your fundraising pipeline.

“Yes,” you say, “I have met with the donors, I know their wishes and I have a good idea of what to expect. Yes, I have a plan in place to recognize them and ensure the gift stays in in their estate plans.”

“Wow,” says the board chair, “Well, with this future security, we ought to think of the programs and future innovations that will further our mission.”

“Exactly,” you say, “because I’m about to approach even more donors about putting us in their estate plans, and I’d love to be able to tell them about the kinds of things that might be possible.”

But right now, legacy giving is something you’d prefer not to talk about at your organization. You know it’s important, but it feels so far down the to-do list. Who do you talk to? What would you say? And what about all this legal stuff, like charitable gift annuities? Goodness gracious, what other financial jargon do you need to know?

You’ve probably already attended workshops or webinars. You may have added a page on your website or a sentence at the end of your newsletter, such as: “Please let us know if you’d like more information…” You may have even received gifts of this kind already, and worked through the process with a lawyer.

But in your opinion, legacy giving must be more of a thing for the big charities who have the staff and the time. You’re just a small shop with lots of other things vying for your attention.

We know exactly how you feel. We’ve worked with organizations of all sizes who have struggled to make legacy giving part of their fundraising plan. There is a way to do this, even for small organizations. There are a set of steps that almost any organization can take to make a proactive legacy giving program a part of their regular fundraising activities, and we can’t wait to share them with you.