Engagement—The New “It” Metric

Potential clients often ask us, “What kind of response can I expect from my marketing? Do you have client statistics?”

3 Reasons Why Newsletters Don't Get Read

Newsletters are still a major part of most nonprofits’ marketing plans for planned giving, and for good reason—when done right, newsletters are well-read and are an excellent way to elicit response from some highly qualified prospective donors. But readers get turned off when newsletters make one of the three errors described below.

Clever Wording Triples Donations

The way that charities present donation levels can inspire individuals to triple their pledges, according to a recent study by Italian university professors. In the study, two-thirds of participants agreed to a 450-euro contribution, when previously two-thirds had agreed to a donation of only 150 euros. (A euro is currently worth about $1.30.)

The Real Purpose of Photo Captions

So after photographs and headlines, what do readers typically read most often?

According to reader eye movement research, readers’ eyes next go to captions.

With such high readership, publishing one of your photographs without a caption—or with one that merely describes the action in the picture—is a missed opportunity. The real purpose of a photo caption is to market your mission. Tie the photograph to the organization message, advises the Direct Marketing Association, using the caption to highlight  the “benefits” of whatever product or service is being marketed.

Put Your Planned Giving Marketing to Work

As most planned giving professionals know, one key ingredient for success in any philanthropic endeavor involves proactively visiting donors. You have to put in the time and effort to reach your potential donors. In other words, making the necessary calls and donor visits to get your message out, connect with potential donors, and steward those loyal donors who support your mission. While calls and visits are necessary, marketing is also an essential element for getting the word out to a broader audience about the benefits of planned giving, while also prepping those in your portfolio about giving opportunities they otherwise wouldn’t know about.


Here’s how marketing boosts your efforts—and your results:

Tips for Getting a "Yes" From Your Planned Giving Prospects

Planned giving professionals understand that extensive time, patience, and effort normally must go into cultivating donor prospects and transforming those relationships into loyal planned giving donors for their charitable institutions. However, that difficult work can be made easier. Below are three essential tips for increasing your chances of arriving at a “Yes” when asking for planned gifts.

Tracking Your Marketing's Success Through Analytics

How do you measure the success of your planned giving marketing program? By the number of reply cards you receive? By the number of phone calls or e-mails that follow your planned giving newsletter or postcard mailing? In an increasingly online world, more and more potential donors are using the internet to research their options. This means that your potential donors are going to your planned giving Web site to research gifts before they contact you. With so much going on behind the scenes how can you know that your marketing is making an impact?

Concerned You Might Be Missing a Key Response Metric?

by Sara Hildreth, Associate Vice President, Integrated Marketing

You’ve been working hard to follow best practices in planned giving marketing. Your planned giving newsletter goes out 3 times a year, Pentera frequently posts fresh donor stories to your Web site, and you send out timely planned giving postcards when a hot topic comes up.

So where are your responses?