Planned Giving Basics: Recognizing the Gift in Front of You
Bequests, beneficiary designations, and the signals a long-time donor sends; how to respond with gratitude and refer well. The gift most shops miss because nobody in year one was told to look.
Through the Higher Ed lens
The alumni signal this module asks a first-year officer to watch for, a donor who gives fifty or a hundred dollars every single year without fail, is easy to miss inside a shop built around class-gift totals and reunion dollar goals, but it predicts a bequest far better than any single large gift ever has. A beneficiary designation on a retirement account is a natural fit for alumni in their sixties and seventies who already give consistently to the annual fund, and mentioning it gently in stewardship mail costs nothing and surfaces gifts a wealth screen would never flag. The signals worksheet, run against decades of annual fund data, usually turns up names nobody on the current gift officer staff has ever met.
Continuing education
1.00 points
Securing the Gift · Relationship Building
Learning objectives
- Explain what a planned gift is, why bequests are the largest gifts most organizations ever receive, and why loyalty matters more than wealth in identifying them.
- Describe bequests and beneficiary designations in plain terms, including what the donor does, what the organization does, and what neither should say about tax.
- Respond to a donor who mentions a legacy intention with gratitude, record it correctly, and refer the conversation to the right person.
- Read the organization's file for the signals of legacy readiness and produce a short list for the ED.
Designed for CFRE continuing education. Not yet accepted; no CFRE points can be claimed.
Lessons
- 16 min
Video lesson
The gift in front of you
II See · Securing the Gift
- 16 min
Field guide· PDF
Bequests and beneficiary designations, in plain terms
V Receive · Securing the Gift
- 16 min
Template· DOCX
Legacy response letters and the referral note
V Receive · Relationship Building
- 14 min
Worksheet· XLSX
Signals worksheet: reading your file for legacy readiness
VI Accompany · Relationship Building
This is members-only material.
Members get every lesson, template, and worksheet in all eight tracks, plus the support to put them to work in your shop.
More in this stage
Fundamentals & Ethics
How Fundraising Works
The map you weren't given: where the money comes from, why people give, and what a development program is made of.
Major & Principal Gifts
Your First Donor Conversations
Scripts, practice, and nerve for the conversations that fund your mission: discovery visits, thank-you calls, and your first ask.
Annual Giving & Direct Response
The Annual Fund, Explained
Appeals, segments, and the giving calendar: how recurring annual revenue gets built, one season at a time.