The NonProfit Times - October 15, 2008 - (Page 11)

PLANNED GIVING MICHAEL PATTERSON Answering Donors’ Questions Software puts information at a fundraiser’s fingertips hen a gift planning officer gets a call from a prospective donor, the officer must be prepared to answer questions ranging from the mundane to the arcane. The caller might want to know how much a charitable gift annuity pays. The question might be the amount of the tax deduction if a term-of-years Charitable Remainder Unitrust is set up.What is a Charitable Lead Trust? Or, what are the benefits of an Annuity Trust versus a Unitrust? If the gift officer doesn’t have an answer on the tip of the tongue, just power up a computer, run a software program and an accurate answer is available within a minute or two. With the software on the market today, gift planners can generate calculations within minutes and accompany them with colorful illustrations, graphs and even audiovisual accessories that explain complex concepts to experts and laypersons alike. Perhaps the greatest advance in software has been its evolution from a product that produced basic calculations to today’s versatile tool that crunches the numbers and also generates elaborate marketing presentations that visually illustrate gift scenarios and motivate donors to give. This has been accompanied by userfriendly programs that have opened up gift planning to the general fundraising practitioner while still providing state-ofthe-art performance for even the most advanced professionals. “The purpose of planned-giving calculations and marketing software has evolved from a tool that only a planned giving professional could use when talking with donors and their planners to a tool that any development officer or planner can use with their donors,” said Gary M. Pforzheimer, president of PG Calc, a Cambridge, Mass.-based software company. Planned giving software serves three essential functions in the nonprofit world. As a marketing tool, it produces visual and written information to help prospective donors, planned giving officers and professional advisors review gift scenarios.As W a closing tool, it generates the calculations and contracts required to complete gift agreements; and finally, as an administration tool, software keeps track of hundreds of donors, gifts, payments, tax forms and even cuts checks. Two of the nation’s leading providers of planned giving software -- PG Calc and Crescendo Interactive -- offer products that serve all three functions.The development of their products is light years away from the age when a development officer would visit a prospect, sit at a kitchen table and sketch out a gift plan on a yellow tablet.Today’s gift officer may still sit at the kitchen table, but is more apt to be armed with a laptop computer that offers the capabilities to review a gift proposal with the prospect and run variables within minutes. Moreover, depending on choice of software, a planned giving officer can even let prospects run their own planned giving slide show, complete with an audio narration. And if a question arises that stumps the development officer, a virtual legal library is a click away and an answer is available within seconds. Perhaps the greatest area of growth for software providers has been tied to the burgeoning popularity of the Internet. Most nonprofit organizations have their own Web sites, and many of these sites have sections for planned giving. PG Calc and Crescendo have both developed software that is designed to run off an organization’s own Web site. This has thrown open the doors of planned giving to the donors themselves. Now, rather than depending on gift planners or professional advisers to provide them information, donors can explore the world of planned giving to their heart’s content, even running their own gift illustrations and proposals. One job that keeps the software companies busy is the periodic updating of their products to comply with the latest tax regulations and any changes in charitable gift annuity rates. Software designers also continue to develop new features suggested by their clients. For example, PG Calc recently added a feature that allows Planned Giving Manager, the company’s major calculation and marketing software, to compare gifts funded with different principal amounts side-by-side, upgraded its look and feel with a larger screen and an initial menu and improved help system with slide shows that animate the explanations for some of the key concepts in the software, Pforzheimer said. Crescendo, meanwhile, is adding new formats or ways of receiving presentations. “For those donors who have visual impairment, there now is the option to print the flow chart with a large print,” said Charles Schultz, president and CEO of Crescendo, the Camarillo, Calif.-based company. In addition, many illustrations can be emailed to donors and their advisors, he said. At Crescendo,Video Help is now available with Crescendo Pro, Estate or Lite -its three calculation and marketing products. The Video Help program combines Crescendo with the on-demand video explanations from GiftCollege, the firm’s online planned giving learning program. “With a simple ‘click and view’ method, a Crescendo user now can have a video explanation of any planned gift,” Schultz said. Planned Giving, page 12 DIRECT RESPONSE ing the Olympics,”he said.“Response on Animal Planet was not affected,”said Koeppel. There might be some residual effects. “People may be a little burnt out on television with the Olympics followed by the [political] conventions,” he said. Not all nonprofits found decreased response during the Olympics telecast. The Christian Children’s Fund (CCF) in Richmond, Va., ran short form 120’s on a variety of stations. “We’re probably not noticing a decline,” said Mary Arnold, the director of marketing.“We’re in many different places on a weekly basis so we don’t focus on the weekend.” CCF found many opportunities outside the Olympics that could counter any detraction from the two-week period. “We have not seen a decrease in our clearings or lead generations,” she said. CCF does notice getting lower prices from stations as most advertising has dropped in the cost per spot.“We moved to a lower price quarter during that time in the industry,”she said.“Also,a number of advertisers pulled out of some television.” CCF tries to buy at the lowest price and that poses a risk. “If we offer a low price that helps us and someone pays more, we would lose that opportunity -we’re balancing a tightrope,” she said. “We don’t know whether more people are watching (because of the Olympics) or whether they’re shifting to NBC,” she said.“NBC must be hoping they’ll stick because they have been running promos for the fall shows.” CCF couldn’t compare the present Olympics with the Winter games.“We knew the Olympics were coming, so we tried to buy around them because many cable networks ran good counter offers.” she said. Does the response decline teach lessons for the next Olympic go-round? Most likely the future will offer more options in other ways,White explained. More of a decline could be coming with traditional methods of using television. Shawyer’s message to nonprofits is that the strategy will be different. “We’ll have tremendous changes from network through mobiles and text messages,” she said. “Other media will develop and the question is how fast interactive methods will become more prevalent through the country in other platforms.” Tom Pope, a New York City-based journalist, writes regarding management issues. OCTOBER 1, 2008 THE NONPROFIT TIMES www.nptimes.com 11 http://www.nptimes.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of The NonProfit Times - October 15, 2008

The NonProfit Times - October 15, 2008 Wall Street Meltdown Charities Hope To Rev Giving When To Say 'Thanks' Contents Paul Newman: It Was Always His 'Own' Safe Donations Uneven Performance Answering Donors' Questions Business Briefs Going Back To School Doesn't Require A Classroom Anymore Webinars Bring Professional Training To The Office Should The Ungodly Bright Lead Philanthropy? The Tough Economy Calendar NPT Jobs Resource Directory

The NonProfit Times - October 15, 2008

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