Reality-based Strategic Plans

Project duration: about 8 weeks

We chart a deliberate course from your current gift planning approach to the future you wish to create. We consider what’s possible, given your constituency, staff capacity and budget. Then we map milestones for increasing awareness, donor engagement and fundraiser activity with metrics to track progress.

Case Study

We performed an assessment and made recommendations to optimize an underperforming planned giving program at a regional healthcare organization. The organization subsequently hired a new planned giving director who used our analysis and five-year strategic plan as her roadmap. Prior to her arrival, their annual planned giving activity averaged $5.8 million. In her first year they raised $10.1 million, in the second year they raised $15.46 million, and last year they raised $16.47 million.

Project duration: about 4 weeks

We assess your donor base and planned gift history, then set realistic expectations for the role complex current gifts and deferred gifts will play in meeting your campaign goals.

Case study

Our client, a private school, sought our assistance to implement the gift planning component in their comprehensive campaign. The initial part of the campaign was focused on capital projects, while the second half focused on building their endowment. Gift planning was hoped to be a major driver of endowment growth.

We helped craft individual strategic engagement plans for a well-cultivated pool of potential planned gift donors. As needed, we also accompanied staff to introduce planned giving concepts and assisted donors in crafting gift plans that met their financial, estate planning, and philanthropic objectives. We also made regular presentations to the campaign committee and the board of trustees.

The outcomes of our collaboration with the organization’s staff have been very positive. The initial donor meeting ultimately resulted in an outright seven-figure gift to create an endowed chair. Total planned gifts to the campaign now exceed $6 million. 

Project duration: about 4 weeks

We analyze your current blended gifts or gift potential, then plan to engage the entire development team in blended asks. As needed, we assist in discussions with individual donors to identify blended giving strategies. The result: gifts that maximize donor potential and provide resources to the organization both today and in the future.

Case study

Our clients were a husband and wife who had inherited a family farm in another state, which they maintained as a working farm for many years. As they entered their 70s, they sought our counsel on how to best use the farm in their estate and philanthropic planning.

Their intention was to eventually give the farm to an agricultural/veterinary program that they had long supported. Together, we reviewed multiple options and they ultimately decided to create a charitable remainder unitrust (CRUT) funded with the farm. We assisted their legal counsel in the creation of the CRUT, helped them find a qualified appraiser for tax purposes, and worked with their accountant on accurately reporting this gift on their tax return.  

The CRUT provides the donors with an annual income, most of which they use to make additional charitable contributions--a true blended gift. They had the peace of mind that they could use the CRUT income to meet personal needs in the future should they need it, and upon their deaths, the farm would go to the agricultural/veterinary program as they had always intended.