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| Path: Main Street : Resources & Library : Research Articles : Feature Article |
Leslie Howard: The effort and reward of being a planned giving fundraiser
By Karl Noseworthy
January 22, 2009
Making the decision to give a planned gift to a charitable organization can be a much more complicated matter than one might first imagine. Deciding how much to give and which organization should receive your money are the two most important questions that immediately come to mind. Now, add to this mixed bag of choices the fact that you're not merely cutting a cheque for $50; for most people, a planned gift is their legacy. How on earth do you make that decision?
Luckily, there are people who can assist with such a dilemma. This, of course, is the role of a planned giving fundraiser, that person who helps potential donors in their preparation to leave assets to charity, usually by means of their estate, through a will, or by way of gifts of securities. With more than a decade of experience under her belt, Leslie Howard is certainly qualified for the position. Aside from her career as a planned giving consultant, she is also currently working for the Peace Arch Hospital & Community Health Foundation as a senior development officer in planned giving.
Essentially, Leslie's position involves overseeing the entire planned giving program for the foundation. "Everything to do with planned giving is what I do," she states. There are many aspects to the program, some of which involve dealing personally with donors and providing technical information to contributors and professional advisors. She also oversees the management and administration of estates where the foundation has been named as a beneficiary. As well, she has to devise marketing ideas, plans and materials. There is no question that her position is multifaceted and a huge part of fundraising for the foundation.
On a typical day, as a part of the senior management team, Leslie regularly attends management and staff meetings. She also spends a portion of her day reviewing estate files and corresponding with lawyers about different issues surrounding estates. She arranges appointments to meet with donors and professional advisors to discuss gifts. She may even contact a donor to see if they want to tour the hospital so they can decide what part or specific service of the hospital they may be interested in donating their gift toward.
Aside from the regular day-to-day operations, here are also challenges that must be faced. The biggest one for Leslie is building that initial level of trust with donors, particularly with elderly donors. Often they are not well enough to come to the foundation to meet, making a home visit necessary. And because these potential donors may be unfamiliar with the person doing the fundraising, they can be cautious or uncomfortable with having a stranger in their home. "The challenge is building bridges in order to make people feel comfortable so that I can come out and visit with them in their home," Leslie says. As these bonds are formed, it helps creates the long-term relationship that is often necessary in planned giving.
These long-term relationships are crucial to Leslie's work and her primary avenue to obtain funds for the foundation. She indicates that about 80% of planned gifts are received through a will or an estate gift because, for many people, "it's a relatively easy way to make a significant gift to an organization that people feel very passionate about." The key to maintaining these long-term bonds is to educate donors and make them feel tied to the organization. This is why it is of paramount importance that planned giving fundraisers have good interpersonal skills and some emotional intelligence too.
Yet, even after working hard to build and maintain strong relationships with donors, being a planned giving fundraiser is often an exercise in patience; goals cannot always be met quickly. Leslie certainly has monetary goals every year that she attempts to build the planned giving program around. However, it can take a period of time before the organization begins to see any monetary results. As such, Leslie tends to measure activities that will lead to eventual gifts. She may measure the number of times that she interacts with a donor in the span of a week, the number of visits with donors, or how many visits she has had with professional advisors. Essentially, targets have to be set around activities that will ultimately lead to fundraising goals.
Of course, cultivating long-term relationships does eventually yield rich rewards for Leslie and the foundation. Currently, Peace Arch Hospital is installing a new MRI machine that will service a huge chunk of suburban Vancouver. This MRI is largely being built as a result of donations that Leslie had a hand in obtaining. "I love going into the hospital and seeing new equipment," she says.
While it can be a very rewarding line of work, entering into the field of planned giving takes a diverse skill set. When Leslie joined the nonprofit sector, she brought with her many years of experience in financial planning. She feels that planned giving is a logical transition from financial planning, as there is a strong correlation between the two positions. She suggests that people interested in the profession need an understanding of the concepts of planned giving, as well as knowledge in estate administration, insurance, and the basics of securities and how they work. "It can certainly be self-taught by means of seminars, by reading books, or by researching via the Internet," she says. Another great way to obtain information is by joining the Canadian Association of Gift Planners and talking to them about their introductory programs.
Ultimately, working as a planned giving fundraiser can be a long and arduous process, where tangible results are not immediately obtainable. But if you are able to envision the end result, the journey is definitely worth it.
Karl Noseworthy is a freelance writer from Newfoundland who currently resides in Kitchener, Ontario. He can be reached at karlnoseworthy@hotmail.com.
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