The Pentera Blog
Planned Giving Programs That Are Limited to Bequests May Be Leaving Money on the Table
Planned giving donors use a wide variety of gift vehicles—and planned giving offices that limit their programs to bequests are likely leaving money on the table, according to The 2016 Planned Giving Study sponsored and funded by Pentera.
The finding about gift vehicles is just one of many findings in the study, which was released late last year. The 2016 Planned Giving Study: Building Lasting Legacies: New Insights from Data on Planned Gifts was the brainchild of Pentera CEO Claudine A. Donikian and researched and written by the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. The study looked at the top 120 higher education institutions in the U.S. and then did an in-depth review of a number of universities.
Many nonprofits limit their planned giving programs to bequests based on the knowledge that they are the most popular gift and account for 80% of all planned gifts. In this study most gifts did come from bequests, but the percentage was much lower at just 54%—meaning that a lot of money came in through other types of gifts.
Bequests with a known amount brought in about $1.7 billion in the study, while other gift vehicles brought in just over $1 billion. If all of the institutions studied had bequest-only programs, they would have failed to raise the additional $1 billion dollars.
Gift variety is even more significant among repeat donors. Their percentage of bequests was less than half the overall average, while they were twice as likely to use gift annuities and charitable trusts (see chart). The study found that 21% of donors make multiple gifts.
Planned Gifts by Type*
| Gift Type | All Gifts | Multiple Gifts to Same Institution |
| Bequest | 54% | 25% |
| CGA | 15% | 31% |
| Trusts | 14% | 28% |
| Life Insurance | 9% | 9% |
| IRA | 4% | 4% |
| Other | 4% | 3% |
*Excluding unclassified by type
The findings show how important it is for your nonprofit to accept and encourage a wide variety of gift vehicles. The complete study with many other findings is available here.
