How non-profits can profit from LEAVE A LEGACY
THE TERMINOLOGY:
WHAT IS A BEQUEST?
Below are some ideas for you to consider:
•Piggyback on all the publicity LEAVE A LEGACY will be getting by planning a major mailing to your supporters during the months of April and May. Use March to get all your materials together, stuffed, addressed and stamped. Mail during the last week of March or first week of April.
•Use the enclosed draft of a cover letter, if you wish, as a direct appeal. Be sure to enclose the LEAVE A LEGACY brochure (order by calling 888-826-7900) along with your own organization’s brochure and/or wish list.
•Run an article and an ad in your newsletter about LEAVE A LEGACY. Call 888-826-7900 to order both. If you usually run radio public service announcements, consider asking stations to run LEAVE A LEGACY spots, instead, during April or May.
•Brief your staff fully on LEAVE A LEGACY and encourage them to volunteer as speakers for the program. Although your staff will not be able to advocate for you while speaking to groups about LEAVE A LEGACY the speaker’s affiliation is always mentioned, and this alone will bring your name to the attention of the audience. Besides, all non-profits should take part in educating the public about leaving bequests to non-profits. We all benefit . . .
•To get additional attention for you organization, tell us about your "success stories" in obtaining planned gifts for your organization. Our public relations committee will be choosing several of these "donor stories" to highlight in the media during LEAVE A LEGACY month. Use the enclosed Donor Story Form. Submit as many as you wish. The media is very interest in highlighting why and to whom people give. You may as well be one of the non-profits featured.
•Use this opportunity to approach your board members directly about the possibility of being remembered in their wills. Plant the idea of the entire board pledging to do so at once. (This is an excellent example of the kind of story the media is interested in.) Perhaps you can enlist the help of a financial advisor or attorney willing to meet with your board to outline some of the options and tax benefits of planned giving.
•Ask you staff and board to think of clubs, organizations, service groups, etc. that would be willing to schedule a speaker on LEAVE A LEGACY.
•Since the media will be very much awar
e of LEAVE A LEGACY month, your local newspaper or radio station may very well call you for comments on the program. Be sure that you are fully informed on the general program and be prepared to discuss why your particular organization needs the dependable income of planned gifts, in addition to the not-always-predictable annual gifts. Keep the enclosed fact sheet close at hand for easy reference.WE HOPE THESE TIPS HAVE BEEN HELPFUL TO YOU AND YOUR ORGANIZATION. GOOD LUCK!
Carpenter Dominic Mason died in 1989.
Tomorrow, he’ll renovate the playroom at the local homeless shelter.
As a carpenter, Dominic renovated homes for his clients. As a child, he and his mother found a home in a shelter when times were hard. A counselor there showed Dominic a future filled with opportunity, and he never forgot that life-changing vision. Thanks to a bequest in his will, a few more children will have a chance to build their dreams. Include your favorite cause in your will or estate plan. Contact a charitable organization, attorney, financial advisor or local LEAVE A LEGACY® program to learn how.