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eRate Newsletter | March 15, 2022

IRS DISCOUNT RATE: April 2.2%

Five of the Top Ten Lessons Learned from the Front Lines of Client Services

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The world of planned giving is complex and fascinating. It is squarely at the intersection of philanthropy and estate planning, but it also overlaps with the areas of law, taxation, investments, and human behavior. There are so many nuances and specialty areas of knowledge that the gift planning professional can easily become overwhelmed and lose sight of the core issues. We at PG Calc hesitate to say, “we’ve seen it all,” but in some ways, we have!

We produce software for gift planning and gift administration, and we provide a wide array of services ranging from consulting to web services. We thought it might be helpful to pause for a moment and share what we’ve identified as the top 10 lessons (this is the first installment of 5) in planned giving that we have learned over the 37 years of our company’s existence. These are not necessarily in order of importance or relevance, and of course, they represent only a tiny portion of the knowledge required for any modern-day gift planner.

 

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WEBINAR March 31

Notice: To accommodate clients currently not able to view PG Calc webinars in a group, all registrants will receive a link to a replay of the webinar that they can share with colleagues at their organization. The replay is available for approximately 60 days, starting within a few days of the live session. Alternatively, additional participants at the same organization who wish to attend the live session may do so for just $25 each.

Strategically Giving a Business Interest to Charity

Presented by
Aimee D. Griffin, JD, LLM

Thursday,
March 31, 2022
1:00 - 2:30 pm ET

REGISTER

UPCOMING TRAINING

GiftWrap Fundamentals

March 23-24, Online (6 hours over 2 days)

PGM to PGM Anywhere FREE

April 7, Online (90 minutes)

GiftWrap Advanced Reporting

April 13-14, Online (4 hours over 2 days)

PGM Anywhere Introductory

May 5, in-person Boston, MA, prior to PGGNE (9-4 ET)

VIEW

Quick Tip: What Makes a Persuasive Donor Story?

A donor story should be concise, yet compelling enough that a potential donor will want to read further. This is storytelling, so tell a story about your donor. How did they decide to support your charity, and why did they choose that particular gift? The story is not about the gift details as much as it is about the emotional journey of the donor. We want like-minded readers to see themselves in the story. We want the reader to feel the self-satisfaction of giving and the impact the gift will have to future generations. That means we should show how the gift will positively impact the donor’s life, how it changed him/her, or what it means to their family.

A donor story is not a news story – it’s marketing copy. Thus, don’t be afraid of powerful, emotionally charged language. We want the reader to empathize with the story and build an emotional connection. Use the details of the donor’s life experiences to pull the reader in and make them feel, “this is just like me.” Lastly, the purpose behind your story is to encourage people to reach out and start a giving conversion. End your story with a call to action. Tell them exactly what you want them to do, such as “contact me” or “go to our planned giving page.”

The donor story is a powerful tool. Don’t be a afraid to use it.

Learn more about how the PG Calc Marketing Services team employs storytelling and other methods to influence donors. 

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From the Blog: The IRS Says You Didn’t File Your PIF or CRT Form 5227…But You Did!

We are getting accustomed to waiting longer for things these days: Waiting for baggage to come at the airport. Waiting for food to be delivered. Waiting for any device that uses a microchip. Many of the delays are due to staffing shortages. The IRS is no different.

If you have received a paper notification that you didn’t file your 2020 PIF or CRT Form 5227, you are not alone. That’s because the IRS automated notice system is working just fine. However, due to staffing shortages, the IRS is delayed in opening these and other hard copy returns. So while the automatic notice machine churns on, the real live humans are still sitting and opening envelopes trying to catch up.

Read the blog post...

 READ THE BLOG POST 

ACE Act Introduction in House Sparks Fundraiser Interest

The Accelerating Charitable Efforts (ACE) Act caught the attention of fundraisers when it was introduced in the Senate in June 2021. It is receiving renewed attention since an identical bill was introduced in the House in early February.

The primary aim of the ACE Act is to assure that donor advised funds make distributions to charity within a reasonable period. It pursues this goal in complex fashion, as summarized below.

  1. The Act would establish three categories of donor advised funds: “qualified DAFs” (QDAFs), “non-qualified DAFs” (NQDAFs), and Qualified Community Foundation Donor Advised Funds (QCFDAF).
  2. Distribution requirements would be specific to each DAF category. QDAFs would have to distribute funds (plus earnings) to charity within 14 years following the year the funds were contributed to the DAF. NQDAFs would have to distribute contributions and earnings to charity within 50 years after the funds were contributed to the DAF. QCFDAFs would require a minimum annual distribution of 5% of their value as of the last day of the prior year.
  3. If a QDAF or NQDAF failed to distribute all funds within the required period, a penalty tax equal to 50% of the undistributed funds would be assessed on the fund sponsor.
  4. The donor of cash or publicly traded assets to a QDAF or QCFDAF would receive a charitable deduction at the time of the donation. For donations of other assets, the donor’s deduction would become available when the QDAF or QCFDAF sold the asset. The donor to a NQDAF would not be able to take a charitable deduction until the NQDAF transferred the funds to a qualified charity, regardless of the type of asset donated.

The Act contains additional details regarding DAFs, as well as provisions that would affect private foundations. You can find the text of the Senate Bill here.

It seems unlikely the ACE Act will pass, especially not before the 2022 mid-term elections. Its recent introduction in the House does indicate that Congress is actively considering these ideas, however. Fundraisers should keep an eye on the bill and whether any of its provisions migrate to other legislation to get them enacted.

Aces photo by Vikas Makwana on Unsplash

Training

Training Schedule Set for the Remainder of 2022

In late November, given the uncertainty of Covid, we decided to schedule trainings only for January through June until we had more information. We are pleased to let you know that we have now scheduled additional classes for the remainder of 2022.

On May 5, we will return to in-person training, offering our PGM Anywhere Introductory class in Boston. This class will take place the day before the Planned Giving Group of New England (PGGNE) all-day conference on May 6. On May 24-25, we will offer our PGM Anywhere Introductory and Advanced classes in Costa Mesa, CA, prior to the Western Regional Planned Giving Conference. See the full training schedule for more information. It will be fun to see some of you in person!

For the remainder of the year, we have a full slate of online classes. We will also be doing some analysis of client interest in online vs. in-person trainings. When you receive your survey, please fill it out! We will keep you posted.

Return to Conferences

We are glad to see the return of the conference season, and we're looking forward to seeing you virtually and in-person as more key planned giving events resume their regular cadence.

PG Calc is proud to again sponsor and attend PPGGNY's Planned Giving Day in March, the 35th ACGA Conference in April, Planned Giving Group of New England's Annual Conference in May, among many others. See the full roster of conferences we'll be attending on our website.

We're also sharing our planned giving expertise by speaking at events throughout the year. As our speaking engagements are confirmed, we'll keep adding them to our website.

Be sure to stop by to say hello at your next conference!

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Bryn Mawr College Finds Value in Being Able to Customize Its PG Calc Planned Giving Website

“As a women’s college, it is very important to customize the language on our planned giving website, and in particular, offer gift examples that feature women. The site content, configuration, and menu have all been tailored to reflect the culture of Bryn Mawr. The ability to edit the text ‘in-house’ provides flexibility to respond to new giving opportunities and keep the website fresh and up-to-date.

“PG Calc is an invaluable partner for our e-marketing program. We trust PG Calc to recommend best practices, which allows the gift planning team to focus on fundraising. When we meet with alumnae, they express appreciation for the resources offered on our website. It is clear from conversations with alumnae that our e-marketing efforts are planting a lot of ‘seeds.’”

—Dianne Johnson
Director of Gift Planning
Bryn Mawr College

Learn more about Bryn Mawr College.

Learn more about PG Calc’s Marketing Services websites.