More donors look for a return on their investment

Donors today are looking for more than a cause they believe in before they will give to a charity, said Carol Oliver, executive director of the North York General Hospital Foundation, speaking to the National Society of Fund Raising Executives...

Let’s take the mystery out of probate

Planned giving officers are in the business of encouraging gifts by will. Surprisingly however, many of us are not familiar with the duties of an executor, or the process by which an estate is settled. More importantly, many of our...

Why worry once you’re in the will?

Charlotte Sutherland of Dalhousie University, and Sarah Rothwell of North York General Hospital Foundation told CAGP delegates that there are very good reasons to make donor recognition a high priority. "We all love our donors", said Rothwell, "but unfortunately we...

What should you really do when the reply card comes back?

In a recent issue of Planned Giving Today, consultant Robert J. Bruder-Mattson wrote that "the surest way to guarantee that I would never have the opportunity to visit my prospect face to face was to mail them the information they...

Nothing succeeds like careful, realistic planning

To be productive, any discussion about fundraising must go beyond just sharing information, said consultant and author Ken Wyman, "to the point where every discussion has as its goal a realistic action plan that will produce quantifiable results." Wyman's remarks...