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Research shows that most people don't think of public broadcasting when they're doing estate planning. It's up to you to let them know you're a candidate by aggressively marketing your planned giving program. You can begin very simply and get more sophisticated as you start to have some success. This page contains just a few examples of things that work for several stations. Many more examples can be found in Resources.
Begin Simple Marketing
Use media immediately available to you — on air, in print, and on the web — to get the planned giving message before your viewers and keep it before them constantly. Use a strategic approach, rather than scattered communications.
- Think about what programs your best prospects watch and get on-air positions adjacent to them. Consider, for example, American Experience, Antiques Road Show, Lawrence Welk, and Britcoms, which generally attract older viewers.
- A few announcements here or there make no impression, so remember the principles of reach and frequency.
- While using existing member communications such as the program guide are important, don't rely on them exclusively, as many planned giving prospects may not be current members.
- Create synergy. In the examples below, notice how simple print ads direct the readers attention to web sites that contain more information and how prospects are encouraged to contact the station so that their names can be captured for cultivation through newsletters, events, etc.
All this means that planned giving must negotiate a reasonable share of the station's marketing resources with whoever manages them at your station.
Program guide: In the following examples, you can see how three stations use their guides to get the message out to their members — one through small, unobtrusive ads that serve as constant reminders, a second with an emotional approach, and the third by providing solid facts and directing prospects to the station's website.
Ads: Prospects are found not only among members, but among non-members as well. OPB's largest single individual gift, a $3.5 million bequest, came from a man with no previous contact with the station. Ads placed in outside publications help reach non-members and are another means of reinforcing the message among members who may also see it. The Visions ad was prepared by the Robert F. Sharpe Company and is available free of charge from PBS.
Direct mail: In addition to the program guide, use direct mail to get before your prospects and find ways to get planned giving mentions into existing direct mail produced by the station. Many stations use a check-off box for planned giving information on response forms. Two planned giving questions included in a member survey prepared by Lewis-Kennedy Associates produced over 120 planned giving prospects for Oregon Public Broadcasting, while producing excellent response for the membership department.
On-air spots: One of the most effective communications vehicles for planned giving is one that is right at your fingertips and not available to other non-profits in your market — your own air. It reaches those who use your service at the very moment that they are using it. Yet it is one many stations do not use. On-air spots create awareness, generate leads, and tell viewers where to find additional information. Here's a sample of a Visions spot available free from PBS, as customized by one station.
Web presence: Stations use web sites to provide detailed planned giving information while allowing prospects to remain anonymous. This overcomes the reluctance some prospects have of involving outsiders in their estate planning decisions, while providing a chance for others to contact a planned giving officer via email. Incidentally, some stations maintain a special, easily remembered web address that links a prospect directly to the planned giving page, (such as, www.endowwxxx.org)
Beyond Basics
Once you've got your program underway, consider marketing activities that entail a moderate cost and require more extensive staff involvement. These include mailing newsletters specifically targeted to your prime prospects. PBS provides access to the Visions newsletter published by the Robert F. Sharpe Company, a tool designed specifically for public television stations to communicate with planned giving prospects. This newsletter is available in several different forms, including versions for joint licensees and for stations that wish to include localized content. Use other media to gather prospects, and add them to the newsletter mailing list.
Also consider expanding your marketing to include charitable gift annuities and charitable remainder trusts. Gift annuities especially are a wonderful and easy gift for many of your target prospects. This postcard and direct mail letter focus on gift annuities that have already raised many thousands of dollars in Salt Lake City.
Breakout Marketing Program
There are other marketing activities — more expensive and requiring significant staff time commitment — that you might like to consider for your program. For example, offer to host teleconferences put on by trade organizations for attorneys, banking, insurance and other financial services professionals in your area. Co-host special events with these same organizations and if possible serve as a media sponsor of the events. Organize an annual presentation about planned gifts for your station staff and volunteers. Regularly put on planned giving seminars for women, your prime prospects. This ad for a Women's Financial Security Summit, co-sponsored by OPB and a local university, drew more than one hundred attendees to learn how to "gild your nest egg."
Relating to Donors
In the end, planned giving is not about marketing, bequests, or trusts — but about relationships with prospects. You get to know prospects by spending time (sometimes a great deal of time) with them and learning about their interests. Your station is one of those interests, so you always have something in common. Find out what it is you broadcast that most appeals to them, and give them more information about those aspects of your service. Find ways to send them tokens of appreciation from the programs they enjoy. As you build relationships with them, they will tell you a great deal more — about their lives, their families, and their dreams. And often, they will give you enough information to tell you how to present your gift request. Since many of your donors are older, here is some helpful advice from the pages of Planned Giving Today by Brendan L. Haggerty, former national director of gift planning for the American Red Cross, on Relating to our Elderly Donors.
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To obtain planned gifts, you must establish that you are a candidate for them by marketing aggressively, using all media at your command. Use your air, written communications, and your web site. Don't just focus on your members, since many prospects may not be current contributors. And remember, ultimately planned gifts are not about marketing or techniques, but about people.
Less than 1% of those planning to include non-profits in their wills consider public broadcasting as a candidate. Marketing to build awareness of your station as a worthy choice for a planned gift is essential!
Almost 35% of charitable bequest donors cite charities' published materials as the initial source of the idea for the bequest, another great reason to include bequest information in your program guide. And don't forget a planned gift newsletter targeted to your prime prospects. It's worth every penny!
The planned giving message is being heard and acted upon. The incidence of people who have included a charity in their wills has grown by 40% over the last eight years — from 5.7% in 1992 to 8% in 2000. By marketing your planned giving message, you increase your chance of being included in your viewers' estate plans.
Public television has a tremendous opportunity to improve its bottom line by increasing its attention to planned gifts. Many of the elements are already in place — our membership base and our community leadership, to name just two. But ultimately, attracting bequests and other planned gifts is a very different enterprise than the kind of broad-based, small donor fundraising we are so good at. Undertaking a successful planned giving effort means reorienting station staff, station time and — most important — station thinking.
KQED had the foresight in the mid-1990s to start a planned giving program that has been exceptionally rewarding. To date, 75 bequests, including a half dozen in the $800,000 to $8.3 million range, have grown our endowment from $2 to $15 million. At present, we have 200 future expectancies including booked life income gifts totaling more than $3 million. We are confident that KQED will enjoy continued benefit from planned gifts well into the future. We urge all of our public broadcasting colleagues to develop legacy gift programs. We know first hand that success in this arena can ensure a strong financial future.
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Begin Simple Marketing
