Hello from the community foundation!
We hope the summer months are treating you well. The team at the community foundation has been fielding a lot of questions from nonprofit professionals and board members about how you can continue to keep donor relationships strong even through these uncertain times. We’re happy to share insights and trends that can help support your stewardship efforts as you focus not only on building long-term endowment assets, but also strive to ensure that annual giving continues to sustain your important mission.
–The much-anticipated Giving USA report is out, and there’s good news about 2024 philanthropy, which hit a new high. Bequest giving, however, dropped last year, but it’s not necessarily a red flag because bequests are by definition unpredictable. Learn how you can interpret the statistics and stay focused on legacy giving as an important revenue stream.
–Any opportunity to keep a donor engaged is a good one! That is certainly the case with recurring gifts. The community foundation team is always happy to serve as a sounding board for ways you can both maintain recurring giving and also engage those donors in planned giving and legacy conversations.
–All eyes are on potential changes in the tax laws that could impact charitable giving. Learn how the latest developments in Federal legislation might impact your donors, and in turn inform your fundraising and donor engagement strategies.
Whether your organization has established an endowment or reserve fund at the community foundation or you’re considering it, we appreciate the opportunity to work together. Thank you for all you do to improve the quality of life in the community we all love.
–Your community foundation
THIS MONTH’S
TRENDING TOPICS
Bequest giving was down. Does it matter?
by Staff Name, Director of Charitable Giving
No doubt you’ve seen the news that bequest giving declined by 4.4% in 2024, according to the just-released Giving USA report. As a nonprofit professional, though, you know that bequest giving is inherently volatile. Indeed, despite the volatility, bequests still accounted for 8% of total charitable giving, underscoring their significance for long-term funding strategies.
At the community foundation, we work with nonprofit organizations every single day to help support your efforts to build endowments and attract long-term funding from donors to sustain your mission in perpetuity. In many cases, we do this by administering a charity’s endowment or reserve fund. In other cases, we do this by helping charities accept complex gifts from donors, such as real estate or closely-held stock. In all cases, we are very aware of the fundraising environment and how important it is to you–and your board–to keep donor support flowing through annual gifts, major gifts, and legacy gifts.
Here are three key takeaways from the Giving USA report, which you might consider sharing with your board:
Charities should continue to prioritize individual donor engagement, as individuals remain the backbone of U.S. philanthropy.
Economic conditions, especially stock market performance, have a significant impact on giving—monitoring these trends can help with planning and forecasting.
Bequest giving is still a major component of fundraising and, although the results can be unpredictable from year to year, a focus on planned giving will deliver strong results in the long term.
As always, the team at the community foundation is here to help! Please reach out. We are happy to arrange a presentation at one of your upcoming board meetings to share best practices for planned giving programs, tips for encouraging donors to leave a legacy to your endowment fund, and factors to keep in mind as you launch efforts to attract gifts of nontraditional assets such as real estate and closely-held stock. We are here for you!
On repeat: How recurring donations can inspire legacy gifts
by Staff Name, Director of Charitable Giving
These days, it seems as though there’s a subscription for anything you need. A recent study noted that the average consumer holds approximately 4.5 entertainment streaming subscriptions alone. With the world continuing its shift toward convenient subscription options, it makes sense that your donors are happily moving in this direction as well.
In 2023, a year when revenue from one-time online giving decreased by 5%, revenue generated from monthly giving increased by 6%. In a more recent study, revenue from monthly giving outpaced revenue from one-time giving by 10%. Monthly giving is continuing to trend as an attractive giving option for donors. Here’s why that’s good news for you:
Recurring givers are committed
If you start a subscription for a new product or service, it’s likely that you’re pretty committed, or at least believe in the product enough to subscribe for multiple months. Monthly givers are no different. A study tracking donor trends from 2018 - 2022 showed that nonprofits had better than average retention rates for recurring givers. Indeed, if a donor starts a recurring gift, there’s a pretty good chance they’re bought into your mission and will be around for the long haul.
Recurring givers make it easier to plan
With one-time donors, it’s hard to know how much they’ll give from one year to the next. Turbulent economic conditions, busy family lives, or flat out forgetting to give can always affect your bottom line giving totals. With recurring givers, you can often expect a similar amount month-to-month, helping you plan your short-term budgets and expected income. Indeed, 91% of recurring donors have their gifts set on “autopilot” by automatically charging their credit or debit cards.
Recurring givers often donate more than their regular gift
While recurring donors are already contributing a great deal to support your mission, 50% of recurring donors also make additional gifts throughout the year. Whether through regular communications, solicitations, or year-end gifts, recurring givers are excellent candidates for major gifts, endowment gifts, planned gifts, and legacy gifts.
Just because a donor has set giving on autopilot, though, it doesn’t mean the donor doesn't need cultivation. It’s actually the opposite. How are you caring for your recurring givers and building a community of some of the most faithful, committed partners to your work? And how are you optimizing your communications and training your team to bring in new recurring givers that will be around for the long haul, especially to ultimately make major gifts and leave a gift to your organization in their estate plans?
The community foundation team is happy to help you explore ways to elevate your stewardship strategies to deepen relationships with recurring donors so that they become strong supporters for your endowment or legacy program. We look forward to a conversation!