An organization generally commits to launching a gift annuity program after research and planning is presented to the Board for approval. Planning may be done by a Board or staff member, volunteer, or consultant. Some organizations wait until all components of the program have been decided before issuing their first annuity. Others close their first gift, then create their gift administration plan. Most charities do some planning to get started and work out the rest later.
Is your organization ready to launch a gift annuity program?
While the following are not requirements, there are often key factors for success.
• Full-time paid development staff - attracting, managing, and administering gift annuities are not ideal responsibilities for volunteer or part-time staff
• A sizable constituency with good planned gift donor potential - this might mean enough long-term annual fund donors that match the demographic (mostly age) profile for gift annuity donors
• A willingness to direct current development resources to deferred giving methods - gift annuities are not the answer for immediate cash needs
• A commitment to market your program - any planned giving program has certain overhead costs, and it is generally not cost-effective to run one that has just a few gifts
• An endowment - to responsibly meet the obligations you have as an issuer of gift annuities, your organization should have an established long-term fund that has an unrestricted component to it
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