As anyone who has worked in fundraising knows, success in planned giving is a matter of timing. If you reach out too soon, the conversation often does not take shape because the prospective donor isn’t ready. If you reach out too late, the conversation likely already happened with another organization.
That’s why the ability to identify alumni who are visiting your planned giving site can be the crucial difference between success and missing an opportunity. It allows your institution to know — down to the individual alumnus — the “Goldilocks moment” to open the planned giving conversation.
Alumni who visit your planned giving website — use your planned giving tools, read your articles and otherwise engage with your online content — send a clear signal that the time is right to start the conversation.
And, more and more, your alumni are choosing a relationship with your institution on your website. This includes your aging alumni who might be thinking about estate planning. Your website is where they get their information; your website is where they do their research; your website is where the conversation can begin.
This is why advancement offices are starting to leverage the same intelligence that entertainment streaming services and online retailers use to deliver custom engagement online. Is it time to leverage this same intelligence on your planned giving site?
Capture Higher Ed has tracked more than 50 million visitors to university websites across the country. Backed by data, we know about identification and the process of reaching out once an alumnus is identified.
A planned gift is the largest commitment most alumni make. Now, your institution can identify high-affinity alumni who are often missed on the planned giving radar today. By engaging the right alumni when they are ready to have the conversation, meaningful relationships can be built and planned gift size and impact can be maximized.
By Kevin Bauman, Director of Philanthropic Initiatives, Capture Higher Ed
