The Pentera Blog
Is Your Bequest Marketing Hitting the Right Mark?
Marketing for bequests is one of the most important aspects of your planned-giving program. It can educate donors about the benefits of planning for their future and motivate them to create their legacy at your organization. But is your messaging hitting the right mark?
Research has shown that bequest donors' motivations are different from annual fund donors'. Your bequest materials should still focus on the importance of having a will, the perils of not having one (or not updating it regularly), and the various ways donors can make a bequest. And your bequest marketing materials should also illustrate the impact a donor can make with a bequest. However, there are certain types of appeals that potential bequest donors are more apt to respond to.
Annual givers respond to appeals that are tied to concrete examples of "impact." Bequest donors, on the other hand, are motivated by general or abstract appeals about the impact their bequest can have on the organization's mission and on greater society–rather than how donations concretely or specifically affect the organization. Bequest giving provides donors an opportunity to support what is called their "ideal moral identity." That is, they give in order to support or reflect the persons they wish to become.
When writing promotional materials such as planned-giving newsletters or postcards about bequests, you'll want to focus on supporting your mission: whether that be curing a disease, educating students, or feeding the poor. Avoid illustrations of saving a particular patient, providing a scholarship for a specific student, or feeding actual families. Your appeal should allow the readers to lose themselves in their desire to feel that their planned gift will help make the world a better place. Your appeal should encourage donors to shape their legacy. In sum, your appeal should help donors feel that by facing their mortality, going to the trouble of visiting their attorney, and including your organization in their will, they are living up to their "ideal moral identity" of being generous, caring, and philanthropic individuals. Because in fact, they are!
For more information on successful bequest marketing contact us at 317.875.0910 x251, e-mail info@pentera.com, or visit our Web site at www.pentera.com
