Last week our guest speaker was James Hamilton, Director of Development and Philanthropic Services at the Community Foundation of Northern Colorado. His talk was personalized for our club, Planned Giving and the Rotary Club of Fort Collins: The Why and the How. He was introduced by past president Randy. Randy referenced John Roberts and his sophisticated legacy gifts to the World Museum as examples of how to give. He also referenced RCFC legacy opportunities and the various donor levels.
James started by listing the multiple ways the Community Foundation supports nonprofits – holding and investing agency funds, matching grants, loan programs, news flashes and providing a “full service“ planned giving office. Non-cash gifts are more important than cash and may include assets (e.g. stocks, real estate), split-income gifts (e.g. annuities, charitable remainder trusts), estate gifts, beneficiary designations, and bequests. Planned giving often doesn’t get done for a variety of reasons (talking about wealth is sensitive, death even more so, immediate cash gifts are usually given priority, and the impression that “it’s complex”).
I think we were surprised to learn that American wealth is primarily non-cash (81%) vs cash at 19%. In addition, as we mature (age) our wealth switches from cash (think your college bank account) to non-cash such as stocks, real estate and business interests. To make the point further we learned that planned gifts are, on average, 200x the donor’s annual gift; if you start planned gifts your annual contribution increases by 75%; planned gifts are realized in 7-10 years, and they have a greater return on investment than annual fundraising! There are benefits to the donor - planned gifts build their legacy, help the donor reach their financial goals and recognize the contributions and impact over the lifetime of the donor.
Now let’s make this real for the RCFC! Who is most likely to make planned gifts? – Younger donors (40-60), those who stay in the organization, those who made annual gifts and those who want to make a larger lifetime gift. Our club has a strong financial record, strong volunteer involvement, encourages gifting and has a clear vision of the future. What should we do next? – continue to fund the Legacy Fund, develop guidelines for gift acceptance, develop a statement for planned giving and continue leadership support of these principles and guidelines. A focus on our immediate opportunities might include identification of donors who have included RCFC in their will, recognize those members, and promote and share stories of planned giving. Shared stories maybe most important - why is RCFC important? What is your motivation? What was your vehicle?
To do these things we do not need to become experts in tax code, offer advice on complex gifts and execute these gifts because we have reliable partners – the Rotary Internal Foundation and the Community Foundation of Northern Colorado.
James offered takeaways - RCFC is a resource for donors and you don’t need to be an expert and most of all, share your stories! Randy provided some more specific examples of what is being done and can be done locally - the next step is to attend a meeting at Randy’s house to discuss the details of planned giving (day & time TBD).
Thanks to James and Randy as they help us understand these opportunities.