Far from an optional addition, a planned giving website is an essential, invaluable tool for any planned giving program. When thoughtfully constructed and regularly updated, your site is a welcome mat for quiet explorers, a billboard for your mission and impact, a guide for decision-making, a pathway from interest to action, and a hub that links all other pieces of your marketing strategy. It presents options, answers questions, provides resources, builds credibility, and encourages conversations—and it does this all on the donor’s timeline.
If your organization doesn’t have a planned giving website yet, consider its integral role in your program. And if you already have one, consider whether it is built to optimize your online presence or whether there are areas that need more attention to maximize its effectiveness.
1. Your website is often a donor’s first touchpoint
Rarely does a legacy conversation start with a donor calling your office. Today, donors of all ages are far more likely to start online, looking to understand gift options, benefits, and impacts before reaching out to your team.
Planned gifts often take years to move from curiosity to implementation, with multiple interactions over that timeframe. The first interaction is likely to be your website, so it should be welcoming and easy to navigate.
Tips to create a good first impression:
• Create a consistent visual style that embodies your brand, mission, and marketing strategy.
• Present information in a clear, organized format that donors can easily understand.
• Use strong photos that highlight impact and complement your content.
• Ensure a mobile-friendly design with simple navigation for smaller screens.
• Place welcoming copy up front that invites the donor to join you in your mission.
2. Your website educates and simplifies giving decisions
When donors are unsure about how a gift works and how it could affect their finances and family, they will likely delay. Donors with questions often seek out answers online. Simple language focused on benefits and mission impact can move donors from uncertainty to action. A strong planned giving website must be easy to read, understand, and navigate.
Tips to provide the content donors need:
• Provide concise, plain-language explanations of gift options.
• Use visual comparisons or explanatory graphics.
• Share realistic examples that illustrate how gifts work.
• Include a frequently asked questions (FAQ) section.
• Keep all information current and up to date.
• Pay careful attention to trust-building elements such as donor or impact stories.
3. Your website captures and nurtures leads
When someone visits your planned giving site to learn and explore, it should ideally provide a clear pathway to further engagement—a step that signals readiness to move forward in the planned giving process. A strong website nurtures and motivates donors through thoughtful content, compelling donor and impact stories, and easily accessible next steps.
Tips to maximize opportunities for engagement:
• Make it easy for donors to reach out with numerous “Contact Us” buttons.
• Encourage donors to connect by mentioning the specific ways you can help them in the gift planning process, from providing information and gift illustrations to offering confidential conversations.
• Provide low-commitment ways to continue learning, such as a form for requesting additional information, downloadable planning tools (such as a will guide), or an easy sign-up feature for newsletters or email updates.
• Embed interactive resources like gift calculators or gift comparison tools.
4. Your website connects your marketing channels
Your planned giving website serves as the central hub that links marketing channels and guides donors toward meaningful engagement. Emails, social media posts, direct mail, and even seminars or other events can all lead donors back to your website—in many instances, directly to the information most relevant to their interests or goals.
Tips to anchor your website in the center of your donor outreach:
• Include links to relevant planned giving pages in every email, direct mail piece, social media post, and event invitation.
• Coordinate messaging across channels so that outreach materials mirror or reinforce the website content.
• Employ strong, consistent calls to action (CTAs) across channels that match the website’s style and prompts.
• Monitor engagement analytics to see which channels lead to website visits and donor interactions—then adjust your messaging and CTAs as needed.
A thoughtfully designed planned giving website does far more than share information—it creates a welcoming space where donors can explore their options, reflect on their values, and begin shaping a legacy that supports your mission. When your website educates clearly, invites conversation, and connects seamlessly with the rest of your outreach, it becomes one of the most powerful tools in your planned giving program—working quietly in the background to inspire generosity and open the door to meaningful conversations.
For many donors, the journey toward a legacy gift begins with a simple online search. Make sure what they find invites them to take the next step.
