Effective Fundraising

6Planned Giving and Foundations

INDIVIDUAL GIVING OF cash and tangible assets is the lifeblood of financial support for most social enterprises. It is true that cash in hand is better than cash on the way. However, planned giving represents deferred receipt of cash that well might not be otherwise accessible. It is important to note that in the United States, because of our aging demographics, we are in the midst of the largest intergenerational transfer of wealth in US history. Planned giving is a critical weapon in ensuring social enterprise gets its share of this wealth.

There are, however, other forms of philanthropy than individual giving. For example, nearly 20% of philanthropic support for social enterprise today comes in the form of foundation grants. Both the board and the development organization need to be prepared to access this source to the extent possible. Additionally, corporate support amounts to 5% of philanthropic support for social enterprises. Corporate support has become much harder to get over the past several decades. Vendor support for events plus special situation grants where there is marketing synergy are the most frequent occasions in which corporate support is being successfully accessed.

Planned giving is the most technically complicated area of philanthropy from both the donor's and the recipient's viewpoint. This is because many of its tools require complex legal documents, actuarial tables, and forecasts of a donor's future cash needs. Most ...