Planned Giving Insights and Information

Six Email Myths You Should Know

There are over 4.35 billion email accounts and it is predicted to reach 5.59 billion by 2019, a growth of more than 26%. Here are some other fun statistics on email: Over 122 billion (122,500,453,020) emails are sent every hour. The average number of emails an office worker receives each day is 121. The open rate for email in North America is 30.6%. The percentage of email that is spam is 49.7%. Email marketing is thriving throughout the non-profit and for-profit worlds. This includes the growing number of multi-generational mobile users who check email on their phones daily. Statistics like these have convinced many planned giving marketers that email is essential for donor lead generation.

The Year of Life Income Gifts

Next year is going to be the year of life income gifts, or actually, it will probably be the next four years. When I read a recent New York Times headline, Plans for Uncertain Times: What do you still control?, I thought they had received a gift annuity mailing! It’s clear that this is a message that will be relevant for a long time.

Economic Plans of the Presidential Candidates

It may seem like it will never end, but the Presidential campaign will soon be over. (Let us please not have a recount like Florida in 2000!) Polls are suggesting a presumptive winner. Nonetheless, the number of undecided voters are at record levels, which introduces unprecedented uncertainty into the election. With that caution in mind, let us compare what we know about the economic priorities of the two candidates with particular emphasis on how their plans would influence charitable giving.

Another Touch Point

This past summer, PG Calc wrote a blog post entitled “Transforming Life Income Gifts into Current Gifts.” The post was informative and thoughtful, but there was a golden nugget touched upon in the post that should be emphasized. Most of us know that our best donors are our current donors, and that is true for donors of gift annuities as well. Organizations’ gift annuity programs receive anywhere from 30% - 60% of their new gift annuity contracts from existing annuitants. Most charities market to their existing annuitants on a regular basis, with mailings or personalized calculations to illustrate the financial benefits of a gift annuity. However, sometimes stewardship can be the most effective strategy for securing an additional gift, or to increase a bequest gift to your organization.