Planned Giving Insights and Information

The Importance of Your Brand

Joshua Bell released a new Bach recording recently, which had me a bit perplexed. There is nothing new about Bach. Why would anyone want to buy this CD, since there are so many Bach recordings already in existence? But Bell has his own “brand,” and people will buy this recording just because he has a following and his interpretation of Bach’s music is sure to be different from his peers.

The Scent of Conversion

The latest trend in planned giving communications is something called “donor-focused design,” an approach that places the donor at the center of the design process. The concept is based on the presumption that an organization’s communications will be more effective and will resonate more with donors if they reflect the needs, objectives, and in particular, language of those donors. Interestingly, this concept is completely in line with a philosophy of website design that the best practitioners have followed for some time. The most effective websites are designed using the results of research into user experience (UX), including areas such as eye scanning, and information tracking. As early as 2001, research done by Dr. Ed Chi, who at the time was Principal Scientist for Augmented Social Cognition, as well as others at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), indicated that humans track information in a fashion similar to the way that animals follow a scent. People... engage in...

Dos and Don’ts with 1099-Rs

It’s tax season, and there are some dos and don’ts you should be aware of as you prepare your donors’ 1099-Rs. DO mail a 1099-R to your gift annuitants so it is received by them on or before Monday, February 2, 2015 (January 31 is usually the deadline but we get a few more days because it’s a Saturday this year).