Gifts of Real Estate (and Other “Shiny Objects”)
Practical Solution Announcement 8
JEFF: Hi everybody, this is Jeff Stein, President of Planned Giving Marketing for another installment of our PSAs: our Practical Solution Announcements. And as always, I’m joined by our friend and colleague Greg Wilson. Greg is the Senior, Major, and Planned Giving Officer at Good Shepherd Rehab in Allentown Pennsylvania. Thanks for joining us, Greg.
Over the past couple weeks, we’ve been having lots of conversations with clients, and you’ve been having great conversations with colleagues and donors.
In this series, we’re talking about the consistency of marketing. I am getting the sense that while we are in the mode of really looking for successes… there are a lot of people in fundraising positions who, even if they are having a successful and consistent marketing plan, they are getting distracted by what we all call the “shiny new objects.”
One example was an organization that… has had some interesting conversations about testamentary CGAs. It’s topical and it’s interesting. But I’m concerned about scrapping a marketing plan that talks about mission and impact and spending a little bit too much time dwelling on why a CGA might be an advantageous way to give for a particular subset of their profile.
At the same time, we were having a conversation… a gift officer… had to pull themselves away because a real estate lawyer was calling about a piece of real estate that was left to the organization. And it’s exciting… The gift officer gets off the phone and apologizes… Then says, “This is really exciting, is there anyway we can tell more people about gifts of real estate?”
My answer is, “Well, that is really, really great, but is that something that is marketing or is that something that is fundraising?”
GREG: Yeah, and that’s a trail we all tend to follow down, because it is exciting. That’s part of the cycle of fundraising. It’s a really, really long slog and then we spike when we get this great gift and we’re like YAY!! This is awesome! That’s pretty natural and it goes back to… having an outside group that’s helping you with this marketing plan so that you can stick to the plan and not get distracted by the shining successes.
JEFF: I guess what we are bantering about here is how to not ignore our immediate successes but how not to allow our immediate successes to deviate our attention from the base strategy.
GREG: I think it’s the difference between marketing and fundraising… I was trying to figure out how to walk that line… that’s more of a cultivation plan more than a marketing plan. That’s like when you find 12 people who have talked to me about CGAs… My one mentor would talk about a gift and interest intersection… But in my opinion, it would be a mistake to make the assumption that everyone is like her and wants to make the same process every year.
JEFF: That has to be a managed expectation of marketing. Most of it is going into the circular file and that’s okay right?… You have to accept the fact that most of it is going to fall flat. But if you focus on one particular thing… your marketing is going to fall even flatter. You’re taking “supporting the organization” to “supporting the organization with a CGA” to “supporting the organization with a CGA by emptying your checkbook every year.”
You have to lead with love of the organization rather than the gift vehicle.
GREG: I was trying to figure out how to phrase it. Within the marketing part, you have to lead with love of the organization rather than the gift vehicle. You know, it’s like, this little old lady loved Susquehanna so much that … . It needs to start with the love of the institution first and then go into the gift vehicle.
JEFF: Exactly. Now the CGA rates are changing also… and my reaction… was “you probably don’t want to make that the focal point of your marketing.” Because you’re just adding confusion to something that is already confusing. That being said, I have advised all of our clients who have disciplined CGA programs to contact anyone who has made a gift annuity and use this as an opportunity to improve the outcome based on the specific timing of their gift. But not to broadcast to the world that gift annuity rates are declining and “act now.”
GREG: Not only that, but I think most CGA’s come in between ten grand and I’m going to say 25k… I’ve only seen or done at the most, a handful of six-figure CGAs.
JEFF: And those are done out of convenience… some donors just do a CGA because it makes them feel good. It’s tidy.
GREG: Yes, it’s quick and easy… That’s the difference between marketing–where you have strong awareness… vs the early stages of cultivation… where you are sending a very specific letter to those who have raised their hands… That would be a terrible letter to send out to say 12 hundred people, because… 1188 of them are going to get really confused… if you confuse you lose kind of deal.
It’s not the time to break the marketing strategy to focus on the specifics of any one gift.
JEFF: I think that’s a great wrap up and summary to our conversation. So today we talked about the distinction between marketing and fundraising… and the need to be very very consistent with your marketing. And while these great things are happening… it’s not the time to break the marketing strategy to focus on the specifics of any one gift. Because what’s good for that one donor who made that gift happen is likely not going to be appropriate for the vast majority of people that you’re including in your marketing plan.
- Consistency is key
- Focus on Mission
- Make the message as evergreen as possible
- Stay the course
These are conversations that you are going to start today, and they may not materialize into a gift for 7, 10, 15, 25 years from now. Stick to mission. Stick to outcomes. Let the donor raise their hand and then begin the process of going down the asset list, going down that list of motivations, and figure out the best type of gift to help the donor achieve their philanthropic goals.
Thank you for joining us today.