Henry Melville Fuller was a trustee of the Currier Museum of Art in Manchester for 37 years, and when he died in 2001, he made it clear in his will he remembered those years fondly. Fuller bequeathed to the museum 60 works by noted 19th century American painters and $43 million, its biggest donation ever. Recognizing that bequests of all sizes are important (though ones like Fuller’s are rare), Susan Strickler, director and CEO of the museum, says the organization began a concerted effort four years ago to solicit bequests of all sizes.
Cultivating philanthropic donations has always been critical to nonprofits, but with a growing number of baby boomers, many of them childless (or with children who are financially successful), nonprofits are increasingly looking to planned giving to help fund their operations. This requires reaching out to potential donors numerous times and overcoming misconceptions about planned giving, the biggest of which is bequeathing money to nonprofits is for the wealthy.
“Although 70 to 80 percent of people make charitable gifts during their lifetime, very few carry that through to their estate planning,” says Shari Landry, vice president of philanthropy and donor services for the NH Charitable Foundation. “I think that most people don’t know it’s an option, or they don’t think that they have enough money to make a difference.”
In fact, according to Leave a Legacy, research conducted in 2,000 shows that still fewer than 10 percent of Americans choose to support a nonprofit through a charitable bequest or a legacy gift as part of their will or estate planning.
New Hampshire nonprofits are working to change this. From the Audubon Society of NH to Special Olympics of NH, the Capitol Center for the Arts and The NH Make-A-Wish Foundation, planned giving options are detailed on organization websites laying out options for passing on wills, estates, life insurance and retirement plans.
“It’s a long-term activity,” says Mary Ellen Jackson, executive director of the NH Center for Nonprofits, of cultivating planned giving. “You really want to be engaging and talking with donors eight to 10 times before you ask them to give. It has to be an ongoing connection.”
Paths to Giving
There is no single way to reach out to donors to seek bequests in wills and estate plans. At the Currier, outreach starts with one-on-one discussions with board members.
“Our more concerted effort to solicit bequests is all done one on one,” Strickler says. “The museum has been doing this quietly with our trustees for a number of years, because it is important to show that we have this kind of support from those at that level.” Certainly the planned giving process requires an ongoing discussion and relationship between the donor and the organization. “The cultivation of the $43 million bequest we received took a number of years,” she says.
These days, more nonprofits have funds specifically geared toward planned giving donations. At the Currier, the Henry Fuller Society has been set up as a legacy society to recognize those who have indicated the museum as part of their bequest plans. This is also the case at the Capitol Center for the Arts, which has the MT Mennino Legacy fund.
Other times a nonprofit makes an impression on someone and they choose to include the organization in their estate. That was the case with Norma Milne, who put together her estate plan 14 years ago at the age of 50. She included a planned gift to Concord Hospital in her mother’s honor and a scholarship at the University of NH in her mother’s name, Mildred Mooney.
Milne added Concord Hospital to her estate plan because of the care her family received when her grandchildren were born and during her mother’s end-of-life care. “I wanted to be thoughtful and specific,” she says. “If something would happen to me, that in addition to providing something for my children, I wanted my mother’s voice to carry through.”
That kind of thinking guides the NH Charitable Foundation when it sits down with people looking to learn more about planned giving. Landry says the first question is, “Which causes or organizations have you supported during your lifetime?” or, “If you could change something in this world what would that be? And we develop something around that hope.”
With budgets under pressure, especially for the 77 percent of NH’s 8,500 registered nonprofits with budgets of more than $100,000, planned giving is increasingly part of the fundraising strategy, says Attorney Robert Wells, director of the trust and estates department at McLane Law Firm in Manchester.
Depending on a person’s finances and goals, planned giving can range from establishing a foundation or Donor Advised Fund (DAF) to bequests and charitable gift annuities, which provide a lifetime income based on a person’s age, Wells says. The annuity is set up so that the donor receives a percentage of the gift annually as income. For instance, with a $100,000 annuity a 70-year-old may get 6.5 percent each year, or $6,500. At the time of their death, the organization receives the remainder of the money. Another option becoming popular is a change in the beneficiary for a life insurance policy or a retirement account to a nonprofit, says Landry.
A Misunderstood Concept
One major misperception is that planned giving or legacy gifts should only be considered in the estate planning of the wealthy. Thomas Masland, an attorney with Ransmeier & Spellman PC in Concord, says he attempts to make that point whenever he meets with a client to discuss his or her estate.
“You don’t have to have a building named after you to be a charitable donor,” he says. “I think one of the most important things nonprofits and families can do is to cultivate philanthropy at an early age. The earlier people are exposed to giving, the more it carries through their lifetime and the hereafter.”
Step one is to have a will. Yet it is estimated that nearly 50 percent of Americans die without one. Estate planning allows an individual or a couple to not only pass on their assets to family members but also allocate money to nonprofits.
“People often say, ‘I have to take care of my kids first,’” Landry says. “Absolutely. But once they have been factored into the equation, take time to reflect on what has been important in your life and in your kids’ lives. There is an opportunity to make a difference with a charitable gift that is meaningful to your family and has an impact.”
To do that, planned giving can specify particular organizations or, working with the NH Charitable Foundation, someone can simply request that their money benefit a cause. At the time of the person’s death, the Foundation assumes responsibility for investing the gift and making annual grants to organizations that have the most impact in the area the donor identified. It is a way to leave a legacy that will benefit future generations, Landry says.
“It’s a psychological journey we go on as nonprofits,” Jackson says. “When you first think about it, you think you are begging people for their own personal money. But then you ask someone, ‘How did it make you feel the last time you gave money to a good cause?’ That’s when you realize you are asking someone to allocate their resources to a cause they believe in.”
Milne is a prime example. “I think it’s actually very freeing when you take the time to think about what’s important to you, then you document it and you share the information with your family and those important to you,” she says. “It’s a legacy.”
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