Are Your Donor Stories Boring Your Readers to Death?

Storytelling is all the rage in planned giving now, and that has resulted in a proliferation of donor stories that are … sometimes ineffective and even downright boring. They start at the beginning of the donor’s life, describe education, career, family, hobbies, and on and on, taking hundreds of words to get to the point: Why the donor decided to make the planned gift! Sometimes, surprisingly, the gift is never mentioned at all.

Charities Need Help with Stories, Says New Study

A new study from the Rockefeller Foundation says that most charities need professional help creating effective stories that inspire donors (a service that Pentera provides to its clients).

Donor Stewardship: More Than Thank You Notes

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines stewardship as “the office, duties, and obligations of a steward” and “the conducting, supervising, or managing of something; especially: the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one's care ”

Don't Miss These 5 Tips to Improve Donor Communications

According to a study by Frank C. Dickerson, Ph.D., emotion and human-interest narratives work better in fundraising communications because of the way in which the brain is hardwired to process language. You can easily test this theory out yourself in other areas, such as news stories that go viral across the nation. These news reports are often compelling because there is a story and human-interest narrative that goes along with the facts that are reported. A weather report is not nearly as interesting until there is a story of personal hardship or a story of a community coming together to overcome a tragedy.

The Autobiographical Connection - Why Your Donors' Life Stories Matter

MRI studies show a visible brain response between donor recollections of their life stories and their willingness to engage in charitable bequest giving, according to Russell James III, JD, PhD, professor at Texas Tech University. What does that mean for planned giving professionals? It means that your focus should be donor-centric. In other words, when soliciting a bequest, or other planned gift, you will want to ask about and listen to your donor’s life story rather than simply communicating the needs of your organization.

Get Women Together to Turn Potential Donors into Actual Donors

Barbara Stanny grew up wealthy—her dad was the “R” in H&R Block—so she assumed she would never want for anything, and she let her husband take care of all the finances. Big mistake. She says that in 15 years her ex gambled away all of her wealth—which she discovered when she tried to get $60 at an ATM and found there was no money left. In her colorful retelling of the story, she relates that she went to her father for help but he told her she needed to solve her own problems. She had three kids and was more than $1 million in debt.

Pentera’s Integrated Marketing Strategy Helps Frostburg University Promote Planned Gifts

Frostburg University's Take on Help from Pentera, Inc.:

When director of major and planned gifts Cherie Krug came on board at Frostburg State University two and half years ago, the school had a growing fundraising operation but had never really focused very heavily on offering planned-giving options to donors. Also, in the middle of a capital campaign, the need to get started was urgent.

That’s when they decided to turn to respected industry leader Pentera, Inc. for help. Pentera worked with Frostburg to develop a customized marketing strategy integrating print, Web, and eMarketing to promote planned giving. “Our donors were used to writing a check for the Annual Fund,” says Cherie. “Everything Pentera does for us helps our donors think in a different way. It’s a whole other piece of giving.”

After about a year of consistent marketing, Frostburg began to see results: Donors started asking about making planned gifts.

#1. Featured Strategy: Build loyalty through education and meaningful, relevant communications

The Compass: Creating Your Legacy, Frostburg’s newsletter, focuses on a particular type of gift in each issue. According to Krug, “The language is easy and simple to follow.” She continues, “The examples are great. I have the volunteers working on our campaign read the newsletter; it helps them learn what they’re talking about.”

Pentera’s production of the newsletter is painless for Frostburg: “I say I want to feature gift annuities and maybe some other kind of estate planning; Pentera finds the articles. The ease and convenience of it is just amazing.”

In addition, most issues contain a donor story written by Pentera’s testimonial-writing service and donor-profile questionnaire, two of Pentera’s many creative services. “The donor stories are wonderful,” Krug says. “Something that would take me or someone else here weeks to do is quick, accurate, and beautifully written.”

R. Sam Griffith, president of the FSU Foundation, is a financial advisor in a major company. He doesn’t hand out compliments easily. Yet in a phone call with Cherie Krug and Bernard J. Davisson, II ’81, vice president for advancement and the foundation’s executive director, Griffith praised the Pentera-produced newsletter. “He said, ‘This is one of the best marketing pieces I’ve ever seen coming out of this division,’ ” Krug remembers. “‘It’s clear, it’s easy to read, and it gives great information.’“



#2. Featured Strategy: Donor-friendly Web site that is easy for the novice as well as the expert to navigate

Frostburg knows that while traditionally the newsletter was the main component for a planned-giving marketing program, now it is just one piece of the whole. Their Web site is another major piece.

“The Web site is a great way for a relatively new donor base to go online and learn about planned gifts,” Krug says. “It’s easy to navigate and very helpful. We’re finding more and more that even our older alumni are on things like Facebook, so the electronic component is very important.”

The easy-to-navigate Web site includes diagrams for illustrating the ways to give to Frostburg as well as easy-to understand detailed descriptions and benefits that donors can read while they do their planning.

Frostburg’s site also includes Pentera’s signature interactive feature, the Life-Stage Gift Planner™, which Pentera pioneered over a decade ago. The Life-Stage Gift Planner™ allows donors to explore various gift options most appropriate to them based on the financial and personal issues they are facing during their particular life stage. As Frostburg is focusing on bequests, the site gives examples of various types of language that a donor can easily access and use when updating or writing a will.

The Web site is very flexible and kept up-to-date. Every month, an article spotlighting current trends in planned giving is posted to keep donors coming back to learn more. Pentera also keeps Frostburg’s site fresh with new donor stories and automatic updates with any changes to legislation or rates.

Frostburg trusted Pentera’s industry knowledge, experience, and willingness to customize their products to Frostburg’s needs. And as a result, the integrated marketing strategy has made a huge impact on their planned-giving department.

As Cherie Krug says about working with Pentera and its expert, friendly, and helpful staff, “…it is just amazing. It’s been a great experience.” And more important, donors are directly benefiting too. They are being educated and cultivated and in turn are responding and asking about planned gift options.

For more information about how you could achieve success with your planned giving marketing like Frostburg has, contact us at info@pentera.com or 317.875.0910, ext. 251.

Does your Web site have a personal touch?

by Leila A. Wheeler, Marketing Associate, Integrated Marketing Department

Donor stories have the ability to inspire, motivate, and move potential donors. They can take an informative marketing piece, such as a planned giving newsletter or a postcard, and bring it to life by giving it something extra—a personal touch.

Does your Web site have that same personal touch?

Because these personal giving stories resonate with potential donors, organizations have used them throughout their marketing pieces for years, not only to recognize the loyalty of those dedicated individuals who have made a gift, but also to effectively illustrate how gifts can help their organization.