The Pentera Blog
Is Your Organization Going to Miss Out on the Impending Increase in Planned Gifts?
Now may be the perfect time for nonprofits to ramp up their planned giving marketing because affluent American households appear poised to increase their charitable giving through planned gifts.
A new study by the Bank of America and the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy found that 12.2% of affluent Americans have a will containing a charitable provision and another 7% plan to add a charitable provision within the next three years.
This means that soon nearly one in five affluent households may have charitable planned gifts in place—a promising figure, especially considering the competition for planned giving dollars are children, grandchildren, and other family members.
While affluent households plan to leave the lion’s share of their wealth to family members, the study identified specific subgroups of affluent donors who plan to leave larger-than-average shares to charities—including LGBTQ+ donors, Black/African American donors, and young people.
The study, Charitable Giving by Affluent Households, found LGBTQ+ individuals plan to leave 20% of their wealth to secular charities compared to just 7% for non-LGBTQ+ individuals. The survey found Black/African Americans plan to leave a larger share of their wealth (8%) to religious charities, compared to 4% for non-Black/African Americans. It also found younger people plan to leave 11% of their wealth to secular charities compared to 8% for older individuals.
While one in five affluent individuals creating charitable provisions in their wills is promising, it means many more affluent households remain untapped sources of future planned gifts. Reaching them—and educating them—on planned giving options is going to be crucial for directing those gifts to your organization. Is your organization poised to do that?
You can see the full study here.
