Why establish and cultivate a program to emphasize memorial and honorary gifts for your charity? Consider three fundamental motivations: visibility, prospect identification and acquisition, and project support.
Memorial and honorary gifts bring visibility to a program through distinct and specific constituencies who may not have considered the organization before. If a family or donor designates your non-profit as a “charity of choice”, it makes a positive statement to others that you are worthy of support.
Hononary and memorial gifts also help identify new donors. When someone chooses your non-profit as his or her preferred charity, it transmits that individual’s confidence and respect for your mission. Memorial and honory donors — and recipients — are strong prospects to add to your mailing lists. Individuals often make their first gift through one of these venues, then continue as donors as they learn more about a charity.
A well publicized gifts of remembrance program gives your loyal donors and supporters an opportunity to regularly support your project(s). These gifts are often small, but they offer an easy way to regularly give to your cause. This contact and repeated support develops donor loyalty and affiliation. Regular giving becomes a habit (one that we particularly like), and every gift reinforces our cause with the recipients.
Non-profits are constantly struggling to establish themselves as a leader in the minds of their constituencies. A strong memorial and honorary gifts program is a positive way to help anchor a program in the minds of the extended community of potential supporters.
A habit of giving, widespread visibility, reinforcement of project and mission, and the ability to touch new donors are all valuable reasons to initiate or expand your remembrance program. In evaluating benefits against costs, this will establish something tangible. Over time, memorial and honorary gifts will generate countless positive contacts and interactions.
Contact results@pridephilanthropy for sample Gift of Remembrance promotional letters and gift envelopes.
