How to run a planned giving campaign #5: Thank your donors

NOTE: This is part of a longer series on planned giving campaigns.

Any quality campaign should be celebrated and advertised. Your donors are obviously the biggest part of this success and should be rewarded. There may be some inducements to certain individuals to complete a gift, such as naming a facility or part of one. Obviously, these agreements must be honored.

Let’s rave for fundraising! Fundraving!

You may also consider establishing a society of planned giving donors with special events designed just for them.

Perhaps dinners or lunches with special presentations that show the good work their gifts are doing or will be in the future.

Events exclusively for your legacy donors creates a community and something to entice future donors with.

The relationships that you’ve built during this process should help inform you of the best way to go about this. Would a public celebration of, say, naming a wing of a hospital fit in with the donor’s personality? Are they more low key and would prefer to remain anonymous? Either are fine, but this will inform your decision making.

Finally, shout your successes from the mountains.

Have outreach pieces to your organization’s entire base about the campaign’s results and what this means to the causes they support. Be as specific as possible about what you’ll be able to do with your new capital.

You’re not only marketing your accomplishments, you’re setting the table for future campaigns. You have your proof points to take to your board on why this should become a part of your annual fundraising plan.

After all, those that didn’t take part in this campaign are just donors that haven’t gotten on board, yet.