She cleared her throat. Laughed a little in spite of herself. And then said, “Have you ever seen a U-Haul following a hearse? You can’t take it with you!“

Thus…with this brief account of their conversation with a legacy donor authors Fraser Green, Holly Wagg and Charlotte Field explain how they chose the title for their marvelous new book– You Can’t Take it With You: The Art and Science of Legacy Fundraising.

The formal launch of this legacy marketing treasure occurs today in Montréal at the annual conference of the Canadian Association of Gift Planners.  However, on the highly likely chance you’re not in attendance my advice is to rush right over to Amazon and order your copy of You Can’t Take It With You today. Amazon U.S. here.  Amazon Canada here.  Amazon UK here.

Here’s why.

Since 2003 the team at the Canadian agency Good Works has been doing remarkable and pioneering work in the area of relationship fundraising with emphasis on direct response – plus an additional specialty emphasis on the use of direct response for legacy giving.

I cite this history because when Goodworks partner Fraser Green began actively preaching the value of marrying direct response to legacy giving the high priests of conventional gift planning thought he was nuts. After all, no law degrees.  No finance degrees.  No fancy trusts and estate plans.  Just lots and lots of success—by mail, telephone and digital.

In 2007 Fraser and colleague Beth McDonald shared their experience in Iceberg Philanthropy: Unlocking Extraordinary Gifts from Ordinary Donors,  a book that turned traditional planned giving on its head by showing fundraisers how very ordinary donors were making extraordinary gifts to charity in their wills through a process that employed a combination of major gift strategy and direct marketing tactics.

Now in 2019…with You Can’t Take it With You: The Art and Science of Legacy Fundraising. their pioneering process has been updated, tweaked, and further bolstered by 12 additional years of practice plus the additional input of the new book’s co-authors Holly Wagg (GenX),  Charlotte Field (Millenial) and of course Fraser (Baby Boomer).

This is a fun-to-read, practical “how to” book built on the answer to Fraser’s instinctive questioning decades ago: “Why is there such a huge gap between direct mail fundraising and planned giving?”

The answer, of course, is that the “gap” can be closed, and the book reflects 15 years’ work with more than a hundred organizations and communications with what Fraser says is “about a million donors and more than a gazillion words of letter, brochure, email, booklet and web copy.”

What a delighted reader will find in this example-filled guide is an effective step-by-step process for taking legacy campaigns from initial concept to final execution.  Everything from theme and tone…the most appropriate type of story and storyteller to convey your message…how to pick the most productive audience…and –perhaps most important of all –chapters on the financing, timing and evaluation of a legacy marketing program.

Demystifying Planned Giving

In short, the gift from the Good Works team to all of us is a roadmap for demystifying planned giving.

• If you think your boss or board will fight you on launching a legacy marketing program the book gives you a great work-around strategy they call “raindrops”. (Chapter 3: Raindrops on the Roof)
• Want to answer the question “how long until a legacy marketing effort will pay off?” Not as long as most folks think and you’ll find out how to calculate an accurate answer, measure your ROI in advance and come up with answers that will thrill the bean counters. (Chapter 9: The Math or How to Model Your ROI)
• Concerned about talking about “death” and “mortality”?Don’t be.  See Chapter 5: The Giving Brain.

• “Sure, I understand the theory of all this, but how do I do it? What tools do I need and how do I use them?” You’ll find it all in Chapter 7:  The Legacy Factory: Tactics and Tools.

5 Key Questions

As we’ve all heard –ad nauseum– we’re in the middle of the largest inter-generational transfer of wealth in history.  And this book will help you with some practical answers to key questions you should have about this mother lode.

1. 1. Who makes wills?
      2. Who’s going to make wills?
      3. Who’s making charitable bequests?
      4. Who gets the money?
      5. Where does all that money come from?

Just the Tip of The Tips

You really need to read this book in its entirety.  But, to whet your appetite here are a few insights excerpted  verbatim:

• First and foremost, direct mail donors make the best legacy prospects. If your charity has a direct mail program and you’re not actively marketing legacy gifts to those donors, you’re leaving a lot of money on the table!
•  We found that, pretty much every time, exactly one- quarter of the donor file self-identified as qualified legacy gift prospects. We have enough experience with this to assert to you that you should be actively and regularly marketing legacy giving to about a quarter of your donor database.
• One interesting side-note: We found that donors who had the honorific prefix ‘Miss’ make really good legacy prospects, regardless of their giving history. If you have someone who uses ‘Miss’ as her prefix, talk to her about her will!
• The key predictor of legacy giving is donor loyalty over time. So, rather than looking for lots of money, we’re looking for the repeated behaviour of giving over an extended period of time.
• Remember, it’s the giving behaviour that matters here, more so than the total money given!

Leave Your Legacy

Frankly, I can think of no better legacy we fundraisers could leave the organizations we serve than to put You Can’t Take it With You: The Art and Science of Legacy Fundraisingto work today.

Roger

P.S.  Eight years ago in a post titled Flat Earth Fundraising—New Navigation ChartI reviewed another of Fraser Green’s remarkable books– 3d Philanthropy.a must-read work on donor commitment and loyalty – a key to legacy giving.

Tom Ahern agreed:  “This book will forever change your understanding of the donor’s mind — and your special role in helping donors reach their full philanthropic potential. If you’ve ever had second thoughts about your career in fundraising, read this book – and find your inspiration again.”

And Ken Burnett added:” [the book] contains more intimate pen-portraits of donors and more analysis not just of how they think and behave, but also of how they feel and why they respond as they do. It deserves a space on every fundraiser’s bookshelf.”