Somehow September has already arrived! As we look forward to the fall (and year-end giving season), we want to share FreeWill’s 2020 planned giving report, updates to our partner portal, and more.
The state of planned giving in 2020
Between the biggest wealth transfer in human history and the effects of a global pandemic, nonprofits have an unprecedented opportunity to grow planned gifts. In preparation, FreeWill has prepared one of the most in-depth reports ever created on the biggest trends of legacy giving.
FreeWill’s second annual Planned Giving Report analyzes data from more than 80,000 wills created with our free will-writing tool over the past year. In this report, we highlight key trends across age, gender, marital status, geography, and other key metrics like pet ownership. We’ve also included a brand new section detailing the effects of the Coronavirus pandemic on planned gifts and nonprofit teams.
We’ll be hosting a webinar on Tuesday, September 15th to dive into the key takeaways from the report, cover the state of planned giving this year, and detail strategies your organization can use going forward.
We’ve introduced two new features to the Partner Portal to help you gain more valuable information about your FreeWill donors:
Gift Message: Donors can share a message alongside their gift, which is now passed to your organization in real time, allowing you to best steward your donors and create relationships around what matters to them most.
Phone Numbers: We now collect phone numbers from will-makers! This appears as a new column in the "bequest details" view of your portal (this is an optional field, so not all donors will have phone numbers attached).
Have questions about Revocable Living Trusts (RLTs)?
We're here to help! For our partners with large donor bases in California, this explain video may prove useful in marketing RLTs to your supporters. Jada Gale, a Senior Partner Success Strategist, goes over what an RLT is, our FreeWill tool, and much more in under 20 minutes.
Over the course of August, which was National Make-a-Will Month, our partners raised over $18 million in bequest commitments from their outreach. Find out how in our next newsletter!
