Planned Giving Insights and Information

What Are Your Keystone Habits?

Most of us have more work than we have time for. Prospecting, donor calls and donor visits, stewardship, donor reports and updating activity records, marketing, department meetings, gift/estate administration, leadership and board reporting, all compete for our attention. Success does not rely on getting it all done, however, it does relies on getting the right things done. That’s where planned giving marketing can have its challenges. Marketing programs often suffer in the execution, but it’s not so much a failure to execute – it’s a failure to execute the right things. And this applies to organizations with a dedicated planned giving staff, as well as organizations in which planned giving is part of the overall fundraising function.

Thank You, Thank You!

It was the eve of 2016 and because the office was quiet with so many clients away on holiday, it was a good time to catch up on some reading. I found a real gem in the December 22 publication of the Chronicle of Philanthropy where they compiled a toolkit of tips that had been collected throughout the year on the topic of “how to thank (and retain) a donor.” For the benefit of our readers who might have missed it, these tips are worth repeating. More importantly, you should keep them in your files and make them part of your 2016 stewardship plans.

Year-End Reminder - What a Difference a Day Makes

What prompts the flurry of calendar year-end gifts? That all important – to many of your donors – current year charitable deduction. A day late, a gift made on January 1st rather than December 31st, and the deduction is “lost” for a year. Of course, a day can make a difference throughout the year, by changing what discount rate is used for calculating the deduction or in determining the amount of a first gift annuity payment. But it is of particular significance at year-end.

IRS Announces Tax Schedules and Exemptions for 2016

Many federal tax items are indexed annually for inflation, such as the income tax brackets for individuals and trusts, the standard deduction, and the gift and estate tax exemption. The IRS recently announced what the new amounts will be for all 51 of these items in 2016. Given the very low rate of inflation over the last year, the new values will increase only about 0.4% over the 2015 values they will replace. All of these changes are minor and should have little effect on the tax incentives that encourage donors to make charitable gifts.