A Simple Marketing Plan

As with all marketing messages, repetition is important. In order to reinforce the message of the advantages of gifts of securities, charities need to expose donors to the idea many times over the course of several months. December is traditionally the time when most gifts of securities are made as that is the time that many investors tidy up their portfolios and get rid of underperforming securities and use these tax losses to offset realized gains on highly appreciated securities. The last day for annual “tax loss selling” is near the end of December. Investors will often use this time to consider a charitable gift of securities. To sum up, timing and repetition of the message are very important in successfully promoting gifts of securities to your organization.

Step 1

Meet with your organization’s investment advisor to make certain that the advisor is set up and prepared to receive gifts of securities on your behalf. The advisor must agree to advise you as soon as any security is received into your organization’s account. The advisor should be aware that the securities will need to be valued as of the close of the market on the day the securities are received into the account. Your organization’s authorized staff person should give the advisor the verbal instruction to sell the securities as soon as possible and follow this verbal instruction with a written fax or email (a fax with signature is preferred).

The donor should be contacted and thanked appropriately and advised of the value of the gift (this is the value of the securities as of the close of the market on the day the securities are received into the charity’s account, not the amount of funds raised through the sale of the securities).

Note: Your organization will pay the sales commission. Many charities negotiate a special commission rate with their investment advisor.

Step 2

Your organization needs to develop a list of donors that may consider making a gift of securities. This target group will differ from the usual prospective planned giving donors as they are often younger (age 40 to 65) and are still in the acquisition stage of their life but have reached a point where their income is greater than their needs. They are generally not retired. They are often donors who have a history of making larger, regular (annual) gifts.

Wealthy older donors should not be overlooked if they are known to have substantial investment portfolios and/or may be asset rich but cash poor.

Step 3

Your organization should develop a short message to donors that alerts them to the concept of giving securities instead of cash (or as well as giving cash). This message should indicate that there are new tax incentives for making such gifts. The message can be placed in all publications and other written material that is sent out from your office over several months. These can include:

• Direct mail pieces
• Donation receipts
• Annual report
• Newsletters

In addition, select newsletters should also contain a feature article that provides a real life example of a donor who has made a gift of securities. The article should give a personal history of the donor (with the donor’s permission of course) as this is always interesting to the reader and helps other donors identify with the individual and their circumstance. The reasons why the gift was made, how the gift will be used and a general description of method of giving should also be included in the article.

Step 4

A solicitation letter should be sent to the selected list of potential donors (see the following sample letter to potential donors) by mid October. This letter contains important instructions for the donor on how transfer securities electronically. A second follow up letter should be sent by late November, early December.

Note: For more information on Gift Acceptance Policies for gifts of securities, see the Policies section of the Toolkit

Step 5

Your Planned Giving Committee and /or staff can develop a target list of professional advisors to meet with and discuss the potential for their clients to make gifts of securities to your charity. Many investment professionals are interested in becoming involved with charitable organizations (for reputation and business reasons) and will take time to meet or talk with your representatives to hear about the good work you do and to find ways to lend support.

Note: See the Networking section of the Toolkit for more information.