What would you take if you have to evacuate?

What would you take if you have to evacuate?

Your “legacy” may be crystal clear for you. Or, you might look around at your home or office overflowing with “treasures” and be really clueless what you would grab if you had to be out – like NOW.

For me this brings up a lot of what makes talking about deferred and planned giving awkward. Even as we get older and we lose parents and friends – live through fires, hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods all around us – or perhaps in our own backyard – we still may well struggle with what we need, what we want, what’s important, what’s junk.

Spoken or not, these feelings come into our donor and life conversations.  And while we think about older donors as being more ready to talk about this – at every age we have experienced loss.  These very feelings may well also open the door for great conversations about major, planned and deferred gifts and what they can do to shore up another human being in good times and bad.

In my years and years working with Russ Howes, VP of Planned Giving, at the University of Wisconsin Foundation, often I had a deep relationship with the giver and he, an experienced gift officer and attorney, had the knowledge.  We’d team up to serve them.

Here are 4 key things he taught me as I ventured into Planned Giving conversations.

1. Keep your eye on the impact of the gift and relate that to the giver’s values.
2. Listen, listen, listen, to the donor.
3. Have expertise at hand and USE IT. Don’t be overwhelmed with the technical stuff.
4. Ask questions for, and with, the donor – with their families, with the organization. (This was a big deal – I’d ask the awkward questions!)

As you begin a conversation with your givers about their giving – they often want a gift that will do something RIGHT NOW, and yet somehow also have a sustainable impact. It’s what they want…. even if they can’t say it.

So here are some questions that may serve you – some classic – some with that Marcy twist – to help a giver wander through this reflection – how does this feel?  I added the first question – based on the world today.

1. What would you take if you have to evacuate?
2. How do you want to be remembered?
3. Is income during your lifetime important? Are you set with long term health care? Are you comfortable you have enough to feel secure during their lifetime?
4. How do you feel about providing for kids/grandkids? How will this change in 10 years?
5. Is recognition important – even if the gift will come much later?
6. Can giving now, and later, get you to the impact that brings you JOY?

Then you can get into assets and tools…. We know the “why” – then we can deal with the “how!”  Planned giving lets us help our givers give from assets – not just cash.  This changes our mindsets from giving as another “expense” to giving as an investment.

Finally, here are the Top 10 Pluses for Planning for your giver.

It gives them the opportunity….

1. TO GIVE!!!!!! Sometimes we get so worked up in the tax advantages we forget this!!!
2. To minimize income and estate taxes
3. For financial security for spouse/family/friends
4. To increase income
5. To keep cherished assets in the family
6. To provide for education of children and grandchildren
7. To provide income in retirement
8. To minimize gift/transfer and capital gain taxes
9. Get out from under property management responsibilities/expenses
10. TO EXPERIENCE THE JOY OF GIVING!

Remember, YOUR RELATIONSHIP with your giver – your trust – is key for any planned giving to happen. You can always get help with the technical stuff – but you can only have these conversations when you care, and you know your giver cares too – about your mission, about their families, about you.

Invest in JOY!