And Why
The excitement was palpable. We had just started the silent phase of a large comprehensive campaign and I was looking forward to a first gift to jumpstart everything.
Sitting in my office that day, I was looking at the group of donors that we would be approaching in the next few weeks. The phone rang and one of our recurring donors let us know her father passed away the day before.
After talking for a few minutes about how she and her family were doing, the donor mentioned that her father had left a gift in his will to us. My face of concern turned into a smile quickly. This could be the gift that we needed!
My hopes were dashed immediately when she mentioned that his vacation timeshare was the gift in his estate to my organization. Our gift acceptance policy, which was updated a few weeks before, did not allow us to accept a gift of a timeshare.
In doing the research on gifts that we would accept, we realized the maintenance costs of the timeshare was not an expense we wanted to incur. Also, we had no idea what we would do with it even if we could afford the maintenance fees! In our discussion with timeshare brokers, they suggested we not take a gift of a timeshare but encourage the family to give it back to the company that owned the property.
The family was gracious when I explained that by policy we could not accept this gift. They were thankful to know what to do with the timeshare and immediately called the property to give it back. They continued to give to the organization for many years after that.
My hopes for a surprise lead gift were dashed, But in the end, we avoided an expense and helped the family in the process.
Not all gifts can, nor should be, accepted.
Retaining donors is more cost-effective than acquiring new ones. Learn practical strategies nonprofits can use to improve donor retention and grow sustainably.
If you need a single, compelling reason to prioritize planned giving this year, here it is: around 46 billion dollars flows to charities every year through bequests. In fact, the latest Giving USA numbers show that bequests in 2024 totaled about $45.84 billion—roughly 8% of all U.S. charitable giving for the year. That’s not a rounding error; it’s a transformative funding stream your mission can’t afford to ignore.
One of the most interesting parts of planned giving is that you never know what is going to happen! Planned gifts will surprise you. In an earlier blog, I talked about the planned gift that I DIDN’T accept. That was not even close to the most interesting gift that I ever received.
And this one isn’t either. But it was something I never expected.
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