Ops Insights #070 - 2 Lists to Find Planned Gift Prospects
July 22, 2025 | Read Time: 3 minutes | Written by Jenny Kleintop
Whether you have five people focusing on bringing in major gift donors or one, ensuring planned gift donors are part of the pipeline allows for securing large legacy gifts. I’ve seen it work best when planned giving efforts are either integrated into major gift prospecting efforts or there is a strong collaboration within the team. Some donors are able to give blended gifts, which result in securing a larger gift. Additionally, the management of moves, coding, tracking, and reporting work best when aligned.
To get started, here are two lists you can request to find planned gift prospects to cultivate.
May I get a list of all living individual donors in our database who have given 7 out of the last 10 years and have not yet given us a planned gift?
May I get a list of all living individual recurring donors who have given over the last 7 years consecutively, who have not yet given us a planned gift?
Please include the following fields:
Name
Spouse Name
City, State
Phone
Email
Birthday
Lifetime giving amount and number of gifts (new gifts and pledge payments)
Last gift date and amount (any gift)
Assigned relationship manager
Last action date, type, and description
Any opt-out coding
Then, review and take action.
Check in with the primary relationship manager for those who are assigned. See how cultivation strategies are progressing and whether making a planned gift has been discussed. If appropriate, create a strategy to incorporate that into conversations with the prospect.
Make assignments to those who are not assigned and have a phone or email for initial outreach.
Ask your prospect research team or data team to try to find a phone number and email address for those who are not assigned. Ask them to complete within 3-4 weeks, as you want to keep the momentum going. Then, after a phone number and/or email address is found, add the assignment and have the fundraiser proceed with the initial outreach.
Track outcomes.
How many are on the list to begin with?
How many currently have a relationship manager?
How many were assigned a relationship manager?
How many were given to prospect research or the data team to look into? Of those, how many were assigned?
How many names do you have from 2, 3, and 4? That’s your starting point.
Then, in 3 months, how many have had an initial outreach or meaningful touchpoint?
In 6 months, how many of them have had a meaningful conversation about a planned gift?
In 12 months, how many planned gifts have you secured? And for what dollar amount?
Tip: Ask your data team to help you set this up at the beginning and remind your fundraisers how to add their actions to track this. Show them the report or dashboard that you will use so everyone is aware of how the initiative is doing.
Take Action
Follow these three steps to identify and pursue planned gift prospects.
1 ➡ Request the two lists.
2 ➡ Review the list and meet with your data team to set up tracking and reporting.
3 ➡ Launch the initiative with your fundraisers to move on the lists and track the outcomes.
You’ve got this!
👋 See you next time,
Jenny
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