As you review your yearly gifts and remaining asks, consider the following questions…
- How many donors made their gift to your organization in 2019 by transferring stocks to you?
- Did you receive any gifts this year from the fastest-growing “grant-making” part of the philanthropic sector? (Psst - it’s the DAF or Donor-Advised Fund)
- Were there any qualified charitable distributions from the IRA of a generous older donor (over 70 1/2) under your tree?
If you answered YES right away to any/all the above, congratulations! If you had to investigate your database to find the answer, then you may be missing an opportunity.
At this time of year, we are all Thanking and Asking, Asking and Thanking, mostly in traditional ways for traditional giving (check, credit card, online, etc.)
But our donors may be ahead of us by using different ways to give without our even mentioning those options. Stocks, DAFs and IRAs are one of many ways outside of the typical “cash” option that our donors are choosing to make their gift. But are we acknowledging the way they made a gift in our Thanking and Asking?
Could it be that by bringing these different giving tactics to light and thanking our donors who use them, we could reinforce our appreciation of their creativity and generosity? And, if we do it publicly – in our newsletter, on social media, etc. – could we also build awareness amongst all our friends, donors, and members of our organization’s capacity to receive gifts in many more ways than cash?
As you continue your Season of Thanking and Asking, Asking and Thanking, think about the way one gives as another way to personalize your gratitude and draw attention to the many forms that generosity can take.
Photo by Joanna Kosinska on Unsplash
