First, the elephant in the room: How can we consider setting goals on bequests when we don’t know when they’ll come in!?

Well, I’m starting with the assumption that you do receive bequest revenue (donations from wills) AND that you have identified some living donors who’ve let you know they have a bequest in place.

Now let’s look at the pros and cons of setting a goal.

Pros

Having a bequest dollar goal creates organizational visibility for an important unrestricted revenue stream. Without a goal, how can we ask for resources like staffing and marketing to grow the portfolio?

This kind of visibility extends to the board, and other leaders, who review our goals and are also good candidates for making this kind of gift. It’s a great way to provide some internal promotion, and possibly identification, of new bequest donors!

An even more important “pro” is that planning for this revenue, instead of treating it like an annual surprise, allows the charity to better plan programmatic spending.

Cons

We might not reach the goal, even if we know of some current bequests for our charity that are in administration. This is a reasonable concern, but that’s why we’ll base our goal on some easy (and justifiable) analysis.

How to

To overcome any nervousness about setting a goal and not reaching it, we’ll be very conservative in choosing the amount. Start by looking up your bequest revenue over the last 10 years. Select the lowest giving year and choose that as your goal. This way, you’ve got a defensible number that is based on longer-term actuals.

To support your goal, make sure you have a basic bequest promotion plan in place, even if it’s off the side of someone’s desk. Need help planning? Give me a call!