Your Next Million-Dollar Donor May Be Closer Than You Think

One of the easiest mistakes we make in fundraising is assuming the size of today's gift tells us the size of the donor's commitment.

It doesn't.

I was reminded of that during our recent Fundraising Accountant Community workshop on planned giving with David Starnes, Senior Director of Estate and Gift Planning at UTHealth Houston.

David has worked in planned giving for more than 30 years. And one of the stories he shared stopped me in my tracks.

A former faculty member had made just two $50 gifts during a 12-year career.

Eventually, the organization received a gift from her will.

$480,000.

David's point was simple:

“It's hard to know who is a donor and who's not a donor.”

That's a lesson every Executive Director and Development Director ought to sit with for a while.

Because most of our fundraising systems teach us to look for the biggest check.

Planned giving teaches us to look for the deepest relationship.

The $25 Donor Who Saved Amnesty International

I've lived this lesson myself.

When I was Director of Development at Amnesty International USA, we were facing a serious deficit during a recession. We were preparing to go to the board and talk about cuts.

Then a gift arrived.

A woman had been giving Amnesty about $25 a year for 12 years.

We had never met her.

But she had included Amnesty in her will.

Her estate gift was approximately $1.48 million.

That gift helped us avoid cuts at exactly the moment the organization needed it most.

Think about that for a moment.

If you had looked at our donor database before she died, what would you have seen?

A $25 donor.

Nothing about that number would have told you what was coming.

But the giving pattern told a different story.

Twelve years.

Year after year.

She believed in the mission.

And that's why one of David's comments during the workshop mattered so much to me:

“That $10 a month…for the last 20 years is someone who obviously has a great passion for what we do.”

There it is.

Passion may be a better planned-giving indicator than gift size.

We Need to Stop Ranking Donors Only by Their Checkbook

Most development departments naturally segment donors by dollars.

Under $100.

$100 to $499.

$500 to $999.

Major donors.

That makes sense for managing annual fundraising.

But it can create a blind spot.

The donor giving $25 every month for 15 years may have a stronger emotional connection to your mission than someone who wrote a $10,000 check last December.

And when people make estate decisions, emotion and identity matter.

They're deciding what happens to assets they may have spent an entire lifetime building.

A house.

Retirement accounts.

Investments.

A family business.

Land.

Life insurance.

They're deciding what goes to their children and grandchildren.

And then, sometimes, they're deciding what part goes to a cause they love.

David put it in a way I think every nonprofit leader should remember:

“We are becoming part of their family.”

That's not fundraising language.

That's relationship language.

When somebody chooses your nonprofit alongside their children or grandchildren in an estate plan, that's an extraordinary act of trust.

Treat it accordingly.

Read More: The 3 Fundraising Goals Every Nonprofit Leader Needs Right Now

The Best Planned Giving Question May Not Be About Money

Here's another thing I liked about David's approach.

He didn't talk about launching into a technical conversation about charitable trusts the minute you sit down with a donor.

He talked about listening.

Ask about their family.

Ask where they grew up.

Ask what they're doing for the holidays.

Ask about their parents.

Ask about the experiences that shaped them.

Then listen.

David shared his own example.

His family has a deep connection to baseball. His father played at the Naval Academy. David played at Baylor. Both of his sons played college baseball.

You might reasonably assume that, if David had a significant charitable gift to make, baseball would be where his heart was.

It isn't.

His father lived with Alzheimer's for eight years.

David told us that if he had a million dollars to give, it would probably go toward Alzheimer's research.

That's the difference between knowing someone's biography and understanding their why.

And that's why I keep telling fundraisers:

You earn the right to ask by listening.

Your job isn't to walk into a donor meeting with a better pitch.

Your job is to understand what that donor wants to change in the world.

The gift follows the why.

Don't Make Planned Giving More Complicated Than It Needs to Be

There's another reason organizations miss this opportunity.

We make it intimidating.

Mention planned giving and suddenly everyone imagines lawyers, charitable remainder trusts, tax regulations and complicated estate structures.

David's advice was refreshingly practical:

“Let's keep it simple.”

He told us that the overwhelming majority of the planned gifts he sees come through two basic mechanisms:

A gift through a will or trust.

Or a beneficiary designation.

That's it.

A donor can name your organization as a beneficiary of a retirement account or life insurance policy.

And if someone wants to include your nonprofit in a will, your organization can have basic bequest language ready for them to take to their attorney.

Complex gifts will eventually come.

As David said during the workshop, that's a good problem to have.

Bring in professionals when you need them.

But don't let the possibility of a complicated $5 million gift stop you from getting started with a simple one-page document today.

Read More: Planned Giving for Nonprofits: The Fundraising Opportunity Most Organizations Overlook

Your Legacy Society Isn't About the Money

We also spent time talking about creating a legacy society.

I think nonprofits sometimes misunderstand what this is.

It isn't another donor recognition ladder.

David made an important distinction.

He doesn't focus on publicizing the amount of someone's estate commitment.

Whether the future gift is modest or enormous isn't the point.

As he told us:

“It's about the passion and the why.”

That's exactly right.

A legacy society is really a stewardship tool.

It's your way of saying:

You have made an extraordinary commitment to the future of this organization, and we want you to know you belong here.

Invite these donors closer.

Give them opportunities to see the work.

Introduce them to leadership.

Share your outcomes.

Show them the financial health of the organization.

Tell them where you're going.

And most importantly, keep saying thank you.

Remember, many planned gifts are revocable.

A donor can put you in a will.

And a donor can take you back out.

Stewardship isn't a courtesy after the gift.

Stewardship is part of the gift.

Look at Your Donor List Differently This Week

I want to give you a very practical assignment.

Pull up your donor database.

Don't sort it by largest gift.

Instead, ask:

Who has been giving to us consistently for 10 years or more?

Who volunteers?

Who has a deep personal connection to our mission?

Who asks thoughtful questions about the work?

Who keeps showing up?

Who has been with us through good years and difficult ones?

Start there.

Pick three people.

Not thirty.

Three.

And get to know them better.

Don't call them tomorrow and ask, “Have you put us in your will?”

Call because you want to understand them.

Ask why they first became involved.

Ask what part of your mission matters most to them.

Ask what change they hope to see in the community.

And listen.

You may discover assets.

You may discover a donor-advised fund.

You may discover that they don't have children.

You may discover they're already planning to leave you something.

But even if you discover none of those things, you will have strengthened a relationship with someone who believes in your organization.

That's never wasted time.

Read More: Giving Is Growing. So Why Does Fundraising Still Feel So Hard?

The Numbers Don't Always Tell You Who Your Best Donors Are

As a CPA, I'm supposed to love numbers.

And I do.

Numbers help us understand our programs, measure outcomes, make better decisions and show donors the return on their investment.

But there are some things a spreadsheet can't tell you.

A $25 gift doesn't tell you how much someone loves your mission.

A $50 gift doesn't tell you what's sitting in their retirement account.

A modest annual donor record doesn't tell you that your organization is already written into someone's will.

Sometimes the most important information is underneath the number.

That's why fundraising still requires relationships.

The historic transfer of wealth now underway creates an extraordinary opportunity for nonprofits.

But your share of it isn't going to come simply because you put “Planned Giving” on your website.

It will come because somebody trusted you.

Somebody believed in the work.

Somebody felt that they belonged.

And somebody inside your organization took the time to listen closely enough to discover why.

Your largest future donor may already be in your database.

They may just look like a $25 donor today.