ACGA Suggested Maximum Rates Change on January 1

The American Council on Gift Annuities (ACGA) announced a few days before Thanksgiving that its suggested maximum gift annuity rates will be decreasing, effective January 1, 2020. If your organization follows the ACGA rates, be sure to start offering the new rates for gift annuities that will be funded on or after January 1.

If you have your PGM Anywhere account set up to use the current ACGA rates (the default setting), PGM Anywhere will pick the correct ACGA rate before and after January 1, based on the gift date you enter. You don’t need to do anything. However, for your copy of desktop Planned Giving Manager to pick the new ACGA rate for gifts made on or after January 1, you must install PGM 7.5C first. Otherwise, it will continue to use the rates that expire December 31. If you have a specific ACGA rate table or custom rate table selected in either PGM Anywhere or PGM, your software will continue to use that rate table indefinitely.

See our blog post for an analysis of the new rates.

See PGM and PGM Anywhere Updated with New ACGA Rates and 2020 Indexed Tax Tables in this issue for more information on these updates.

Marketing Corner: The Most Important Marketing Trend for 2020 - Your Donor

As we approach the end of the year, it’s a great time to look ahead and anticipate the next big marketing trend for 2020. Technology continues to advance at a rapid pace, so of course, you might think next year’s big marketing trend would focus on new technology. You’d be wrong. While the use of technology in data-driven marketing will certainly continue to be important in 2020, your overarching focus should be on people. Specifically, spending time improving your donors’ digital experiences.

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How a Charitable Deduction Translates Into Tax Savings

Why do donors care about the charitable deduction? The charitable deduction is valuable to many donors because it enables them to save taxes. The amount of taxes the donor can save with a given charitable deduction depends on several factors.

PGM and PGM Anywhere Updated with New ACGA Rates and 2020 Indexed Tax Tables

On November 25, we sent an email to all Planned Giving Manager and PGM Anywhere users announcing new releases of these applications that incorporate the American Council on Gift Annuities (ACGA) suggested maximum gift annuity rates that go into effect on January 1, 2020. You must install PGM 7.5C to make use of the new ACGA rates. The new releases also include the indexed federal tax schedules for 2020. If you use either of these products, please see your release email for update instructions and your options for using the new ACGA rates.

If you cannot locate your release email or have questions, please call PG Calc Client Services at 888-474-2252 or email support@pgcalc.com.

PG Calc's Exciting Education Programs for 2020

For 2020, we are thrilled to offer a wide variety of educational opportunities for clients and other planned giving professionals who want to further develop their planned giving skills and knowledge. For those who need to stay on top of planned giving trends and developments, we offer our webinar program for 2020. Each monthly webinar will offer the latest thinking on a wide range of gift planning topics from PG Calc experts, as well as nationally recognized thought leaders, including Russell James, Johni Hayes, Alasdair Halliday, and Sherrie Beal.

Sign up for the whole 2020 series and save $285.

We’re also delighted to welcome back Craig Wruck in June to offer his popular four-part introduction to planned giving: Fundamentals of Planned Giving. You can sign up for the Fundamentals series here.

We will also offer live classroom training for our applications, including Planned Giving Manager (PGM), PGM Anywhere, and GiftWrap, at locations throughout the country, as well as both live online and on-demand software orientations for our software applications. Software training enables clients to get the most out of our applications, and includes the gift planning or gift administration knowledge necessary to understand the functions available in our software. Visit the software training page on our website to sign up for a course in your area. For online orientations, see the software orientations page on our website.

Also note that we can provide custom training tailored to your program's needs, and delivered either online or at your site.

If you have any questions, please contact PG Calc Client Services at 888-474-2252, or email at support@pgcalc.com.

Reminder - IRS Discount Rate Postcard Is Online

About a year ago, we announced that we would no longer distribute postcards showing the new monthly IRS discount rate via postal mail. That decision was made for a number of reasons, including the desire to be more "green," and the fact that we update web-based PGM Anywhere with this information for you every month! We continue to distribute this eRate e-newsletter each month, which displays the new rate prominently at the top of every issue, in addition to providing a variety of informative and engaging articles.

We recognize that having current discount rate information is very important to our clients, and you can find the currently applicable rate displayed on every page of our website. In addition, we devote a page on our site to the new rate, where you can find a colorful representation of the postcard showing the last six rates and a current events notice just as before. Bookmark it!

Fairfield University Partners with PG Calc Marketing Services to Generate Great Results

Fairfield University is a modern, Jesuit Catholic university rooted in one of the world’s oldest intellectual and spiritual traditions. It embraces a liberal humanistic approach to education, encouraging critical thinking, cultivating free and open inquiry, and fostering ethical and religious values. It is located on a stunning 200-acre campus on the scenic Connecticut coast just an hour away from New York City.

Fairfield has had a small planned giving program in place for several decades. Looking to expand its planned giving efforts, Fairfield recently partnered with PG Calc to develop a robust planned gift marketing program.

Stacie Kelly, Senior Director of Planned Giving, had this to say about PG Calc’s Marketing Services:

“For over a decade, I have been using PG Calc’s software to create compelling gift illustrations for my donors. When I learned that PG Calc also offers Marketing Services, I was beyond thrilled. Becoming a PG Calc Marketing Services client was an easy decision. As with everything else PG Calc does, its Marketing Services are the best in the industry."

"My Marketing Services partners, Jennifer Orswell and Andrew Palmer, are amazing to work with. They have helped me develop and implement a strategic planned gift marketing program that is generating great results. PG Calc provides excellent advice on strategy, well written and informative custom content, attractive design services, and detailed data analysis that shows our efforts are working. I am very thankful for PG Calc’s Marketing Services!"

Learn more about Fairfield University.

Learn more about PG Calc's Marketing Services.