Russell N. James III, JD, PhD, CF and Michael J. Rosen recently published a white paper about legacy giving in the current environment.  Mal Warwick Donordigital was pleased to sponsor this study from these world-renowned experts.

And I’m pleased to share my thoughts: When Russell James speaks (or writes, as the case may be), I listen. And when Michael Rosen speaks with him, I listen twice as hard. When they are discussing the biggest challenge now facing my field of legacy fundraising and marketing? I drop everything.

I’ve been in fundraising — and legacy giving in particular — through recessions, natural disasters, and terrorist attacks. But for the first time in many of our lifetimes, every single one of our donors is facing a global pandemic that will inevitably take some of them, their family members, and friends. At the same time, the economic impact of this pandemic is placing many of our organizations and missions at severe risk. Add in the fact that all of us are facing the same scary circumstances as our donors, and there’s a perfect storm of fear in the legacy fundraising world.

People are racing to update their estate plans and advance directives. It’s a fact that facing serious illness is a big trigger for planning. Since a huge barrier to legacy fundraising is the fact that people delay and procrastinate in their planning, this should be an important time for legacy giving. Yet…how can we ask donors to include our organizations in their plans, when they are making those plans in the grip of very real fear and anxiety at a situation far beyond their control? Is it inappropriate, distasteful, or unethical to encourage legacy giving at this time?

I’m seeing a lot of bad advice out there, mostly in the vein of “stop all legacy outreach immediately! It’s creepy!” I’m not hearing that from donors, by the way. I’m hearing it from people who either don’t understand best practices in ethical legacy fundraising or who never embraced legacy marketing as a driver of many of our planned giving programs. As the authors explain: “Unfortunately, it’s often fundraisers who are more committed to avoiding legacy-giving conversations than donors. In good times, we know from Dr. Adrian Sargeant and Dr. Elaine Jay that 88.7 percent of donors to nonprofit organizations ‘indicated they believe it is appropriate for nonprofits to ask for legacy gifts.’” And in 20 plus years of legacy fundraising, I have never yet come across a donor who is offended when I discuss legacy giving with them.

Can you disseminate legacy giving messages during a pandemic? YES. If you do it right.

Many years ago, I took a job with the goal of reinvigorating a stagnant planned giving program. I engaged Michael to help me build up the marketing side, and he introduced me to Dr. James’ work. And it fundamentally changed how I approach legacy marketing. And if you are a client of mine and read this paper, you’ll likely see that you’re already doing the right thing. If you’re up to date on Dr. James’ research and have embraced the idea that if we avoid “death” language, speak to donors’ needs, and focus on engagement rather than blunt solicitation, then you’re already in good shape.

In the white paper, the authors remind us that when facing reminders of death, people react in two ways: They avoid it completely and when they can’t avoid them anymore, they transform the reminders into a desire for symbolic immortality and lasting social impact. This should always be front of mind for legacy fundraisers, especially now.

Of course, death reminders are front and center right now in a very dramatic way. People are experiencing emotional stress, financial stress, and fear at a very high level. The authors point out:

“In addition to people living in an environment that stimulates greater levels of death avoidance, current conditions cause individuals to feel less of an emotional sense of wellbeing. Dr. Jen Shang, a philanthropic psychologist and co-founder of the Institute for Sustainable Philanthropy, among other social scientists, believes that wellbeing involves three essential characteristics: 

  • autonomy – a sense of control
  • connectedness – the quantity and quality of relationships
  • competence – effectiveness

 The more autonomous, connected, and competent people feel, the greater sense of personal wellbeing they will feel. Conversely, when people feel those qualities eroding, they will feel a decline in wellbeing.”

Recognize that with strong opposing instincts pulling donors in opposite directions (wellbeing through planning vs. very heightened sensitivity to death reminders), you may not completely avoid pushback. As the authors remind us:

“People are planning like never before because they seek to take care of their families, usually the priority of those doing estate planning even in the best of times. The challenge for charities is that we need to be at the top of their minds when people are ready to make their plans. It’s definitely the best time for legacy fundraising. Furthermore, by engaging people, fundraisers have an opportunity, like never before, to perform a real service by helping donors enhance their feeling of wellbeing.

On the other hand, talking about legacy planning can be offensive like never before. People are emotionally poised to lash out strongly against such death reminders. Take one step in that direction and the risk-averse herd animal known as your executive director will be ready to end your career.”

Please don’t let that stop you. Yes, no matter how carefully you craft your messages, you may receive some negative reactions. That’s okay and normal, even in less dramatic times. I hope you’ve already been keeping in mind donor needs when crafting your legacy giving messages. Ideally, you’ve embraced the idea that being of service to your donors and supporting them in their planning process while meeting their needs will naturally lead to more legacy gifts. If so, you already know what to do.

If not, the authors offer some advice (which, by the way, is good advice even without a pandemic):

  • Don’t lead with death. This should be obvious to all legacy fundraisers at this point, but I’m always appalled to see marketing from organizations that have obviously not taken Dr. James’ research to heart. You will never see any death messages in the marketing campaigns we create for our clients!
  • Be top of mind with your donors. When “death becomes real,” many people are incentivized to move beyond avoidance into planning. They update their wills, look into more life insurance, complete advance directives and financial powers of attorney, and give serious consideration to issues of guardianship for children and even their companion animals. For charities who hope to obtain gifts through wills, being top of mind when their donors are planning is key.

Under these circumstances, planning provides a sense of control and autonomy, fosters a sense of relationship with those the donor is seeking to protect, triggers consideration of values that the donor wishes to pass on. And when they complete their plans, they feel competence and peace of mind.

The marketing plans I create for my client organizations have no blunt “asks.” We understand that the planning process for donors is complex, and we offer resources and support for their process, rather than focus on the gift. We weave in reminders about legacy gifts  as part of the planning process. And we reinforce the message that including gifts in their estate plans to the charities that reflect their values can be empowering and meet their needs to make a difference, but we don’t lead with that. We highlight values, we encourage them to relate to the stories that other supporters share with them and us, we hold out a hand and engage them personally when they want to engage. We believe that the donor leads the relationship, and we walk beside them.

Because of this, my clients are moving forward with personal outreach — offering expressions of care, concern, and support — and they are finding that their donors are welcoming these calls. They are also moving forward with marketing. As the authors suggest, we are surveying donors, offering resources (workbooks, legacy journals, publications with support for planning under specific circumstances — such as when a family member has special needs, or information for donors who want to plan for the care of their companion animals), sharing donor stories in newsletters, and ensuring that important information is available on websites..

Please don’t let fear keep you from being there for your donors. But if your current legacy giving marketing doesn’t reflect care, connectedness, engagement and value, do some hard thinking about what needs to change. And feel free to get in touch if you’d like some ideas. Just send me an email to tcurtis@mwdagency.com.

Please take care of yourselves — fundraisers are under enormous stress personally and professionally right now. I’m in awe of how you are all rising to the occasion.

You can download the paper here.