How to Earn Planned Gifts and Secure Your Nonprofit’s Legacy

Created By: Amanda Nelson

Updated: December 16, 2025

Planned giving is a fundraising opportunity worth trillions that nonprofit teams can—and should—leverage. The Great Wealth Transfer (the mass transfer of $124 trillion from Baby Boomers to younger generations through 2048) represents more than a financial shift; it’s a critical opportunity for nonprofit organizations to harness the power of planned giving. In fact, experts expect $18 trillion to be donated directly to nonprofits.

By integrating planned giving into their fundraising strategies, organizations can take advantage of this massive opportunity, ensuring long-term sustainability and transformative impact.
In the current philanthropic climate, the question is not whether to incorporate planned giving but how to do so effectively. In this guide, we’ll define how planned giving works and explore essential best practices so your organization can cultivate a thoughtful, strategic, and lucrative planned giving approach.

Planned Gifts FAQ
Types of Planned Gifts
Preparing Your Team for Planned Giving
More Best Practices for Collecting Planned Gifts

Planned Gifts FAQs

What are planned gifts?

Planned gifts are money or assets donors set aside to be donated to charitable causes in the future, either after a set amount of time or after they pass away.

Why should nonprofits integrate planned giving into fundraising programs?

Unlike fundraising strategies that prioritize immediate returns, planned giving plays a critical role in building long-term sustainability. These future-focused gifts can unlock powerful, lasting benefits for nonprofits, including:

Infographic showing planned giving benefits, as explained in the text below.

Long-term financial stability. Planned giving creates a reliable, future-focused revenue stream that helps nonprofits weather uncertainty and plan confidently for what’s ahead. While future individual donation revenue and economic challenges may be difficult to picture, you’ll always know which planned gifts you have in the pipeline.
Increased donor engagement. Making a legacy commitment is a deeply personal and thoughtful act. It can strengthen a donor’s connection to your mission and increase their sense of loyalty as they shape the impact they’ll leave behind. Plus, some gift types offer tax advantages, like capital gains exemptions, making participation more appealing for donors and beneficial for your organization.
Prospect engagement. Planned giving can attract donors with non-liquid assets, opening up a new pool of prospects. Quiet supporters who may not have a lot of disposable income but have fully funded life insurance policies, real estate, or appreciated stock can contribute meaningfully to your cause.
Support for large projects. Planned gifts are often larger than everyday contributions, making them ideal for supporting large projects. For example, you may use a planned gift to fund your upcoming capital campaign that aims to build a new animal shelter facility.
Stewardship opportunities past the donor’s lifetime. Even once a donor passes away, a planned giving commitment allows your nonprofit to convey the donor’s impact to their loved ones, keeping their memory alive. Additionally, you could potentially earn new supporters in the process.

Planned giving is a powerful way for donors to help advance your mission for years to come. To harness the transformative potential of planned gifts, your organization must educate your donors about leveraging this opportunity and support them through the process (more on that later).

What is the average size of a planned gift?

Studies show that a planned gift is typically 200 to 300 times the size of a donor’s largest annual gift. Planned gifts have immense potential to make an impact on your cause.

What is the difference between planned gifts and major gifts?

“Major gifts” is an umbrella term that refers to large donations in general. Major donors typically give their contributions immediately or pledge them over a short period of time. Their gifts typically come in the form of cash or stock transfers.

Planned gifts are sometimes considered a subset of major gifts since they are typically large contributions. They differ from regular major gifts because they’re contributed for future use, meaning the nonprofit can’t access them right away. Planned gifts are also typically more complex than major gifts, often requiring tax calculations, legal contracts, wills, and trusts.

What is the difference between planned gifts and memorial funds?

While planned gifts are proactive in that donors initiate them in advance, memorial funds are often reactive since friends or family members typically create them after a loved one has passed. Planned gifts focus on the long-term impact and legacy a donor will leave, as opposed to memorial funds, which honor someone’s memory and help mitigate grief associated with their passing. Additionally, planned gifts are usually large donations of assets, whereas memorial funds comprise many small one-time cash gifts.

How do you assess the value of a planned gift?

There are three main ways you can assess the value of a planned gift:

Present value. As the name suggests, the present value is the current value of a planned gift. Since the value of a gift will decrease over time due to inflation, present value gives you a way to measure planned gift value as best you can.
Fair market value (FMV). Fair market value (FMV) is an estimate of how much an asset is worth based on its price if someone were to buy it on the free market. Determining FMV often requires consulting an expert on that specific asset type.
Cost basis. Cost basis is the price a donor originally paid for an asset. The value of assets can appreciate or depreciate over time, and any value the asset has accrued since the time of purchase may be subject to taxation.

Types of Planned Gifts

While planned giving is far more nuanced in practice, below are some common types of planned gifts you might receive:

Type of Planned Gift	Description	Donor Benefits	Timeline	Example
Bequests	Gift made through the donor’s will or trust after their passing.	Estate tax deduction, more control over assets during life	Deferred (after donor’s passing)	Donor specifies 10% of their estate will be donated after their passing
Gifts of life insurance	Gift made when a donor’s life insurance policy is paid out.	Premium payments are tax-deductible.	Deferred	Donor names a nonprofit as a beneficiary that receives 10% of the policy payout upon their passing
Retained life estates	Donor transfers property to a nonprofit but retains the right to live there until their passing.	Charitable donation benefits while still retaining a residence	Deferred	While the donor is still alive, they add the nonprofit to the deed so the nonprofit gets ownership rights when they pass.
Charitable gift annuities (CGA)	Donor contributes to a nonprofit in exchange for a fixed income payment for life.	Donors can reduce income taxes and avoid capital gains taxes.	Lifetime of the donor	Donor contributes $60,000 for an annuity of $500 per year for the rest of their life
Charitable remainder trusts (CRT)	Donor contributes appreciated assets in a trust in exchange for a fixed income payment based on the original contribution’s value, and the nonprofit gets the remainder.	Donors can reduce income taxes and avoid capital gains taxes.	Lifetime of the donor or other specified term	Donor donates $60,000 to a CRT with an annual income payment of $3,000 (5%) per year. The nonprofit keeps the leftover money from the trust upon the donor’s passing.
Charitable lead trust (CLT)	Opposite of a CRT; donor funds a trust that provides income to a charity for a set period. After said period, the remaining assets go back to the donor’s heirs.	Potential estate tax savings on top of tax-deductible donation	Income to charity for a set period during the donor’s lifetime	Donor contributes $60,000 to a CLT, which provides the nonprofit with $3,000 (5%) per year for 10 years. After 10 years, the remaining amount in the trust goes back to the donor’s heirs.
Gifts of securities	Donor contributes appreciated assets (like stocks or bonds) to a nonprofit.	Donor avoids capital gains taxes and receives a charitable tax deduction	Immediate transfer and the nonprofit sells the assets	Donor contributes $60,000 in appreciated stock to a nonprofit, avoiding paying taxes on the appreciated revenue.
Pooled income funds	Donors contribute to a communal fund, receiving income based on the value of the original gift for life.	Donor receives income for life, a charitable tax deduction, and can be part of a greater impact.	Lifetime of the donor	Donor contributes $10,000 to a pooled fund worth $200,000. They receive 5% of the total income paid out.

Preparing Your Team for Planned Giving: 3 Steps

Planned giving is a complex strategic endeavor, representing a donor’s lifetime of financial planning and charitable intent. Therefore, you must take a proactive and structured approach to meet donors where they are and anticipate future impacts.

Yet even with the best intentions, many organizations struggle to fully prepare for the intricacies of planned giving. Success requires more than a plan on paper—it demands organizational alignment, internal readiness, and a shared commitment to integrating planned giving into daily practices. The following steps can help you lay the groundwork for a sustainable and successful program:

Three steps for preparing your team to collect planned gifts (as explained below)

1. Collaborate with the Executive Team

ToTo fully align your strategy across teams, your leadership team must be heavily involved with the process from day one. This includes your:

Chief Development Officer
Chief Operational Officer
Chief Financial Officer
Investment committee

These leaders ensure that the strategies you develop are sustainable, compliant with financial regulations, and properly positioned with your organization’s long-term goals. Moreover, their financial and operational expertise allows you to properly craft gift acceptance policies, manage gifts, safeguard organizational interests, and ethically steward donors.

Further, effective executive collaboration allows for clear communication of financial needs to donors, fosters a culture of collaboration, ensures successful service and program delivery, and establishes metrics and processes to set realistic goals and maintain accountability.

To collaborate effectively with the executive team, you’ll need to:

Set regular meetings with them to provide updates on your program and review new opportunities in the planned giving space.
Establish messaging guidelines to instruct executives on how to discuss and promote planned giving opportunities with donors.
Create a clear action plan so executives understand their role in your planned giving process.

Regardless of your nonprofit’s scope or available resources, the end goal of this step should be to secure buy-in from the most important decision-makers on your team. Provide a clear value proposition and answer any questions to steer your team in the right direction.

2. Build Your Planned Giving Program Framework

Now that you’ve involved your executives in your planned giving strategy, it’s time to define the fine print of your planned giving program. To be truly prepared for planned giving success, ensure your framework outlines the following elements:

Program structure. Defining your program’s structure helps get it up and running by determining resource allocation, project goals, types of planned gifts you’ll focus on collecting, donor engagement strategies, and responsibilities of key team members.
Policies for planned gift acceptance. Decide which types of gifts you’ll accept, how you’ll value the gifts, and which restrictions or conditions are attached. Ensure these policies align with ethical standards and your nonprofit’s mission.
Necessary management infrastructure. Analyze your current capacity and resources to understand if you’ll need additional support, such as more staff members or a new team structure, to manage the program.
Strategic partners. To facilitate your planned giving program, your nonprofit might work with financial advisors, planned giving experts, general fundraising consultants, attorneys, and more. Start building a network of partners to help your efforts go off without a hitch. One such partner is The Burgess Group, a life insurance firm that specializes in planned giving.

“When considering premium financed life insurance structures, it’s crucial for organizations to fully understand the complexities and opportunities these vehicles offer. Our legal expertise ensures nonprofits are well-prepared to navigate these sophisticated planned giving strategies.”

Alex Burgess, VP & Principal, The Burgess Group

As you develop these fundamental policies, collect input from executives across the team to gain various perspectives and keep everyone in the loop.

3. Educate the Whole Team

Every department plays a pivotal role in your planned giving program’s success. With executive collaboration in place, the next step is to deepen your entire organization’s understanding of planned giving.

Educating your entire team about planned giving requires a unique approach. Streamline your efforts by:

Starting small. Even if your nonprofit has the resources to invest in a large program immediately, remember that you must build the groundwork first. Once you receive executive buy-in, begin by training your development and finance team members before providing nonprofit-wide training to refine your program.
Encourage interdepartmental collaboration. Once you’ve trained those with the most prominent role in the planned giving program, involve the entire team in your program rollout. Develop department-specific training resources so everyone understands their unique responsibilities and is equipped to identify planned giving opportunities when they encounter them.
Integrate planned giving into daily operations. Now that everyone is prepared to contribute toplanned giving success, you can ramp up your efforts and dedicate more time to planned giving strategies in your daily activities. Include planned giving messages in your communications with mid-level and major donors, and report on progress in your organization-wide meetings.

Your team will undoubtedly have questions when implementing such a transformative giving initiative. Give them plenty of time to adjust, get the information they need, and become comfortable with your planned giving strategy.

More Best Practices for Collecting Planned Gifts

Your planned giving approach will depend on your nonprofit’s unique goals and strengths, but all organizations should keep these best practices in mind:

Infographic showing best practices for collecting planned gifts, as explained in the text below.

Handle planned giving delicately. By its nature, planned giving can be a sensitive topic, and your team must handle it with care. When approaching prospects about deferred planned giving options, keep the focus on securing a legacy. Initiate these conversations strategically, timing-wise; pay attention to donors’ personal lives and giving behavior to avoid coming across as insensitive, pushy, or out of touch.
Cross-promote planned giving with other fundraising strategies. Asking for planned gifts on their own can be challenging, but the conversation can start more organically when introduced alongside other asks. For instance, you might pitch planned giving opportunities as part of your capital campaign appeals, positioning them as a component of a long-term, proactive fundraising approach.
Keep donors in the loop about future activities. Showing impact is critical for building donor trust, but it can be challenging for planned gift supporters to visualize their future impact. Keep them informed about future initiatives so they understand how you’ll use their donations. If you don’t know the exact programs or initiatives yet, speak about how you envision expanding your mission.
Offer and maintain educational materials. If your supporters are aware of planned giving, they might have preconceived notions that can reduce their likelihood of donating. Create donor-facing materials that explain how planned giving works, the types of planned gifts you collect, and the benefits of participating. In addition to pamphlets and a page on your website, offer planned giving informational sessions where your senior leaders can walk interested donors through the process.

As you roll out your planned giving program, watch how donors react and adjust your outreach approach. Also, collect their feedback to iterate on your efforts and align with their needs and preferences.

Wrapping Up

If you’re eager to get started with planned giving but need additional support, look no further than Orr Group. Orr Group applies a business mindset to provide sustainable, revenue-driving solutions for our nonprofit partners.

For example, we’ve helped Illinois Tech reimagine its philanthropic potential and amplify its impact by focusing on major and planned gift fundraising. Learn more about our work with Illinois Tech by checking out the video below:

With 20 years of professional fundraising experience, Amanda Nelson brings extensive expertise to Orr Group, working with large, complex organizations and developing innovative and scalable fundraising solutions. She specializes in planned gift fundraising, including strategy development and implementation, program management, and donor cultivation.

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