As the world continues to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, the economic outlook for 2022 is better than it has been in the last few years. Planned giving rates are also estimated to grow in 2022. According to the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy:
- Giving by American individuals and households is predicted to increase by 3.9 percent in 2022.
- Giving by estates is predicted to increase by…11.9 percent in 2022. (Ware. 2021. The Outlook for Charitable Giving)
In order to take advantage of the improving economic environment, it is important that your organization has a plan for elevating your planned giving strategy this year.
This plan should include 3 steps:
- Use an integrated approach
- Utilize data analytics
- Hire a fundraising service provider
This three-pronged approach will help your nonprofit organization fully execute and elevate your planned giving strategy this year.
1. Use an integrated approach
The first way that you can elevate your planned giving strategy this year is through an integrated approach for donor outreach. According to a study in the Advanced Guide to Integrated Fundraising, “…sending emails to direct mail recipients – instead of only direct mail or only email – led to 60.5% more donations than direct mail alone.” Some organizations worry that frequent communication may lead to donor fatigue, but this study shows that the opposite is true.
Your organization should create a targeted marketing campaign that uses phone calls, emails, direct mail, and social media to reach your donors. The messaging across each of these channels should be consistent and should point to a similar organizational goal. That way your donors will understand what you are trying to accomplish with the marketing campaign and will be more likely to contribute. And according to the same study listed above by nextafter.com, “…multichannel donors are 56% more likely to stick around compared to offline only.”
2. Choose the best donors with data analytics
The next step in elevating your organization’s planned giving strategy is identifying the right donors to target. Marketing campaigns are expensive and taking a blind approach is a waste of money. It is best to use data analytics to make your planned giving strategy more effective.
There are companies that offer donor analytics tools to help you choose the right donors to cultivate. By using data to identify your top donors, your programs will be more effective and cost-efficient. As an example, Donor Compass™’ planned giving programs are proven to run at 50%+ higher yields than those without the benefit of analytics.
Using data analytics to choose which donors to target for your planned giving program will help your organization:
- Optimize development fund performance
- Predict relationship giving propensity
- Turn data into instantly actionable knowledge
- Increase ROI
- Base campaigns on actual donor behavior
It is important to vet the company you hire to conduct data analytics for your organization in order to get the most from your investment. For instance, some data analytics providers only look at the general wealth of donors or past gifts. Wealth scoring is important but it isn’t the only data point that matters. And it has been proven that past gifts aren’t necessarily a good indicator of future contributions.
3. Hire a fundraising service provider
One of the best ways to elevate your planned giving strategy is to hire a fundraising service provider that can orchestrate your planned giving strategy for you. These companies will customize your planned giving campaign and then execute it using their tools and experience. Many of these service providers offer packages that include:
- Data analytics
- Integrated phone and mail components
- Planned giving donor prospecting, cultivation, and relationship advancement
- Major and annual gift acquisition
- Full guarantee of the service
We are all looking forward to better days ahead. The 2022 giving projections are hopeful, exciting, and if your nonprofit is prepared, can be quite lucrative. By leveraging our three-pronged approach, your nonprofit will elevate its planned giving strategy and be ready to accept new planned gifts.
Learn more about how Donor Compass™ can help your organization execute a planned giving strategy here.