Year-end donors are more than seasonal givers—they’re potential legacy builders. Their loyalty, paired with the season’s spirit of generosity, makes this the perfect time to invite them to consider a gift that lasts far beyond the calendar year. With thoughtful outreach, you can help supporters transform the year’s giving into a legacy that endures.
Here’s how to prepare for a targeted year-end planned giving campaign.
1. Review and segment your donor database.
Identifying new planned giving prospects often starts with an analysis of your donor database. Review your list with a focus on factors such as the following:
• Wealth markers (real estate holdings, business affiliations, or income estimates)
• Personal connection with your organization (as volunteers, event attendees, alumni, board members, or staff)
• Giving history with your organization (frequency, increase in giving, and cumulative amount)
• Age
• Marital and family history
2. Tailor your message to encourage legacy gifts.
Once you’ve identified your best prospects, the real work begins—crafting messages that speak directly to what motivates them. Provide useful information about year-end giving, but also highlight the ease and long-term impact of legacy gifts.
If you have segmented your direct mail or email list, customize messaging for each group of recipients.
• Donors age 60 and older. Seniors are particularly interested in leaving a legacy. Emphasize that a gift in a will or trust or through a charitable beneficiary designation is easy to make, adaptable, and deeply meaningful. Include age-based giving opportunities like gifts from an IRA (available to IRA owners starting at age 70½).
• Those with a personal connection to your organization. Whether they are alumni, volunteers, board members, or others, use warm, inspiring language to reinforce their connection, remind them of the importance of your mission, and highlight the lasting impact they’ve already had on your organization and those you serve.
• Program-specific supporters. Craft powerful, targeted messaging that emphasizes how a future gift can sustain the specific program, department, scholarship, or area they already care about. Show the difference additional support can make.
3. Use donor stories to build trust and inspire action.
To move prospects from interest to action, stories are your most powerful tool. It can be particularly powerful and motivational to highlight a donor who has made regular annual gifts and recently added a legacy gift. Remember to include:
• The donor’s motivation to give (including their personal connection to your organization)
• The ease of making the gift
• Any meaningful tax or planning benefits
• The gift’s impact on your organization and those you serve
• The joy the donor feels from creating an enduring legacy
4. Close with a call to action that opens doors.
Pairing useful gift information with motivational stories makes for a strong message, but it’s important to always close with a direct call to action (CTA). Invite supporters to take the next step. They may be open to the idea of planned giving but have never been asked to consider it. Your CTA is not about getting an immediate commitment but about opening the door to the idea and making it easy for donors to move further down the path toward planning a gift.
To create a strong CTA for your year-end communications, consider the following:
• Be specific. Instead of saying “Consider a legacy gift,” try “Learn more about how a gift in your will can further important programs and change the lives of those we serve.”
• Connect timing to meaning. Year end is a natural time for reflection. Help donors link today’s generosity with tomorrow’s impact.
• Offer a simple next step. Planned gifts take time. Invite donors to begin with something small, such as downloading or requesting a will planning guide, asking for a gift illustration, or reaching out to start a confidential conversation.
• Reinforce the donor benefit. Keep the focus on what the donor will receive—joy, flexibility, peace of mind, financial benefits, lasting impact, etc.—not what your organization will receive.
• Make it visible. Place your CTA in a button, bold link, box, or short P.S. so it doesn’t get lost in the rest of the copy.
Year end is more than a time of giving—it’s a time of reflection and legacy. This makes it the perfect season to encourage annual donors to consider planned giving. Now is the time to create your year-end strategy and begin implementing your outreach. Your thoughtful effort today can help ensure that your organization’s work continues to impact lives well into the future.
