Our process

How we work with our clients and your supporters.

Our clients hire us to provide a valuable service to their supporters and secure remarkable legacy gift designations in the process. Our services are customized for each client's circumstances and needs.

With our clientsWith your supporters

With our clients

A plan for each client.

Some of our clients have sophisticated programs in place, while others have no expertise in planned giving. When existing efforts are already in place, we seek to expand the reach while complementing and developing synergies with these efforts.

Our work with all clients starts with a planning meeting to develop ways to communicate our services to our clients' supporters. We provide a wide array of techniques to accomplish this and the creativity and flexibility to apply these techniques to the specific circumstances of each client.

While the strategy adopted can take many different forms and new techniques are constantly being developed, there are generally three common threads to all of this work.

Three common threads

Communicate, serve, share.

Communicate

We find ways to communicate our services to our clients' most committed givers.

Serve

When these individuals ask for help, we serve them well. Impactful gifts and gratitude are the natural outcome. Many become advocates, providing stories and testimonials encouraging and often directly referring others.

Share the stories

We help our clients communicate these stories, our assistance, and the concept of a legacy gift to promote awareness of this important opportunity.

Keeping you informed

Communication with you during casework with your supporters.

A gift to your supporters

As we work with our clients' supporters and take them through the estate planning process, we serve as an extension of our client. There is no fee for our services to the supporter. Our fee is paid by our client, and supporters understand and appreciate that our services are provided as a gift to them.

Monthly progress updates

Because we want our clients to be well apprised of our work with their supporters, we communicate on a monthly basis regarding our progress. We encourage our clients to check in with any of these individuals regarding our service to make sure they are well served.

Case-in-progress reports

A monthly case-in-progress report shows next steps, last results, expected gifts, completed gifts, and ROI to date for all estate planning assistance provided for your supporters. When a donor is referred by field staff, our estate specialist e-mails the field staff after each conversation so they are always up to date on our work with their referral.

Estate gift reports

As we finish work with each family, we will, with their permission, send a report detailing the estate gift and quantifying the total amount to charity and specifically to our client. We ask that our clients thank each supporter for their gift and cultivate the relationship as their investment in the ministry has been significantly enhanced.

With your supporters

An easy process for your supporters.

Our team of professionals guides your supporters through an easy process, as described in this short video and briefly summarized below.

  1. Scheduling. To begin the estate planning process, our scheduling team will connect with your supporter to schedule a telephone appointment with one of our estate specialists.
  2. First meeting. The first meeting, which takes 30 to 40 minutes, focuses mainly on gathering information and understanding your supporter's personal goals.
  3. Estate design proposal. Immediately after the initial appointment, we send a summary of the information gathered along with a document entitled “Biblical Perspectives of Estate Planning.” We then develop a preliminary estate design proposal that becomes the focus of the next phone meeting.
  4. Attorney drafting. We introduce your supporter, over the telephone, to an attorney in our network who will draft their documents at a reduced rate. If they already have a relationship with an attorney, we are happy to work together to complete their estate plan.
  5. Completion. The estate specialist works with your supporter until the proposal is finalized and all of their goals have been met. We then send a binder for their documents and our final estate design proposal, with a helpful booklet entitled “Memo to Loved Ones,” which we review with them.

Have questions or want to learn more?

Contact us at info@aboutplannedgiving.com or 800-876-7958.

Contact usCall 800-876-7958