Ten Commandments of Planned Giving Marketing

Over the past ten work days Phyllis Freedman, an independent fundraising consultant specializing in planned giving marketing, has been sharing her ten commandments for at The Planned Giving Blogger. They’re wonderful and we should all have them pinned up on our corkboards or written on our whiteboards or as the home screen of our smart-devices, depending on our age and how we post reminders!

I’ll share them here, but there’s a longer discussion and marketing examples on the blog.

I: Thou shall rethink what 60, 70, 80 & even 90 look like

II: Thou shall use a serif font/large pt size

III: Thou shall not reverse white type out of color

IV: Thou shall speak plain English; omit the technical

V: Thou shall design for “skimmers”

VI: Thou shall address unspoken donor objections

VII: Thou shall always include suggested language

VIII: Thou shall make the materials your own

IX: Thou shall use testimonials

X: Thou shall always incorporate a call to action Phyllis has asked for your additional commandments to add to her own.

Visit her blog to see the commandment I’ve contributed. Let’s keep this discussion going since it’s such an important one.

Katherine Swank is a consultant for Target Analytics. You may reach her at katherine.swank@blackbaud.com.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Katherine Swank, J.D.

Katherine Swank, JD, senior consultant at Target Analytics, a Blackbaud Company, helps nonprofits apply statistical analytics and donor research to their fundraising efforts with an emphasis on planned gifts. She has raised nearly $250 million for mission funding during her nonprofit development career. Katherine is a retired affiliate faculty member of Regis University’s master of Global Nonprofit Management degree program, where she taught courses on wealth and philanthropy.  Along with writing for publications like Advancing Philanthropy and Philanthropy Journal, she is also a frequent presenter for industry conferences such as NACGP, AFP, APRA, and bbcon. Having grown up in a tourist destination in Colorado, Katherine has become an avid world traveler and is exploring her way through the 1,000 places to see before you die, albeit slowly.  Connect with her on Twitter @KatherineSwank.