Talking Planned Giving: Words that Work

Words That WorkThe phrases that encourage planned giving

Theory

ActionResults

Results from 20 survey groups including nearly 10,000 total

participants collected during 2013 and 2014 with one goal:

To uncovering the messages and phrases that work to encourage planned giving

Philanthropy as synthetic family

Philanthropy is a SOCIAL act using the mechanisms of FAMILY bonding

Theory

ActionResults

Philanthropy uses family bonding mechanisms

• Charitable giving is rewarding (like receiving money)

• But uniquely involves oxytocin-rich social attachment brain regions (used in maternal and romantic love)

“donating to societal causes recruited two types of reward systems: the VTA–striatum mesolimbic network, which also was involved in pure monetary rewards, and the subgenual area, which was specific for donations and plays key roles in social attachment and affiliative reward mechanisms in humans and other animals.” Moll, et al (2006) PNAS 103(42), p. 156234.

Increasing neuropeptide “oxytocin” – a family bonding hormone –increases giving

5Zak, P. J., Stanton, A. A., & Ahmadi, S. (2007). Oxytocin increases generosity in humans. PLoS ONE, 11, e1128


Human touch, when followed by a small gift, elevated oxytocin levels AND subsequent charitable giving

6

Morhenn, V. B., Park, J. W., Piper, E., Zak, P. J. (2008). Monetary sacrifice among strangers is mediated by endogenous oxytocin release after physical contact. Evolution and Human Behavior, 29, 375-383.


The strongest predictor of charitable bequest planning is childlessness

7James, R. N., III. (2009). Health, wealth, and charitable estate planning: A longitudinal examination of testamentary charitable giving plans. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 38(6), 1026-1043.

Charitable estate giving as “synthetic family”

8

Philanthropy is a “social act”

Charitable giving generated greater activation in brain reward centers (ventral

striatum) when observers were presentIzuma, K., Saito, D. N., & Sadato, N. (2010). Processing of the Incentive for Social Approval in the Ventral Striatum during Charitable Donation. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 22 (4), 621-631.

9

Philanthropy is a “social act”

Hare, T.A., Camerer, C. F., Knoepfle, D. T., O’Doherty, J.P., and Rangel, A. (2010) Value Computations in Ventral Medial Prefrontal Cortex during Charitable Decision Making Incorporate Input from Regions Involved in Social Cognition, The Journal of Neuroscience, 30(2), 583–590.

Neural valuation integrates inputs

from social cognition regions

Having empathy

with another

Understanding another’s

perspective Anterior InsulaPosterior Superior Temporal Cortex

Charitable giving is predicted by neural

valuation

Ventral Medial Prefrontal Cortex

Philanthropy as synthetic family


Theory

ActionResults

Family words (simple language and life stories)

outperformformal words

(technical, contract, market terms)


Results

Action

Theory

Market Realm

(exchange)I engage in

transactions by formal contract

Social/ family norms

encourage giving

Market/ contract

norms do not

Social Realm(identity)I help people

because of who I am

Market Realm

(exchange)I engage in

transactions by formal contract

Social Realm(identity)I help people

because of who I am

Use family

language Stories

and simple words

Avoid market

language Formal, legal, or contract

terms

Would you say it in a normal conversation with your grandmother?

Make a gift

where you get an immediate tax deduction, still control the

investment of the assets and receive income from the

investments for the rest of your life with anything left over going to

charity at your death.

where you get an immediate tax deduction, still control the

investment of the assets and receive income from the

investments for the rest of your life with anything left over going to

charity at your death.

Make a transfer of assets

Different groups rate their interest after receiving different descriptions

Does it make much difference?

Describing a CRT

Interested now Not now, but in future

Will never be interested

14%

54%

32%27%

53%

20%

TransferGiftMake a gift where you get an immediate tax deduction, still control the investment of the

assets and receive income from the investments for the rest of your life with anything left over going to charity at your death.

where you get an immediate tax deduction, still control the investment of the assets and receive income from the investments for the rest of your life with anything left over going to charity at your death.

Make a transfer of assets

2014 Survey (A/B)1,101 Respondents

Make a gift

and in exchange receive a guaranteed lifetime income from

the charity.

and in exchange receive a guaranteed lifetime income from

the charity.

Enter into a contract with a charity where

you transfer your cash or property

Does it make much difference?

Describing a CGA

Interested now Not now, but in future

Will never be interested

13%

44% 44%

29%

48%

23%

ContractGift Make a gift and in exchange receive a

guaranteed lifetime income from the charity

receive a guaranteed lifetime income from the charity

Enter into a contract with a charity where you transfer your cash or property and in exchange

2014 Survey (A/B)1,101 Respondents

Formal terms lower charitable interest

Interested Now

36%

22%

Will Never Be

Interested

14%

23%

2014 Survey, 1,417 Respondents, Group F/G

Get an immediate tax deduction and still receive income from your investments for the rest of

your life by making a gift where you control the investment of the assets, but anything left over

goes to charity at your death.

Get an immediate tax deduction and still receive income from your investments for the rest of

your life by making a gift

using a “Charitable Remainder Trust”

where you control the investment of the assets, but anything left over goes to charity at your

death.


Interested Now

50%

23%

Will Never Be

Interested

8%

19%


Receive a tax deduction and make a gift that pays you

income for life

Receive a tax deduction and make a gift that pays you

income for life called a “Charitable

Gift Annuity”


Interested Now

26%

15%

Will Never Be

Interested

23%

30%


Immediately receive a tax deduction for 70% of the value of a house or land by

making a charitable gift of the property, but keeping the right to use it for the

rest of your life.

Immediately receive a tax deduction for 70% of the value of a house or land by

making a charitable gift of the property, using a “Remainder

Interest Deed” but keeping the right to use it for the

rest of your life.

Interested Now

23%

12%

Will Never Be

Interested

12%

14%

2014 Survey, 1,246 Respondents, Groups D/E

Make a gift to charity in my will

Make a bequest gift to charity


Usefamily words

(simple language and life stories)

not formal words (technical, contract, market terms)


Action

Results

Theory

SOCIAL examples influence

charitable estate decisions


Theory

Action

Results

Wanting to avoid thinking about mortality reminders may increase power of status quo/social norms

Avoidance

Johnson, E. J., & Goldstein, D. (2003). Do Defaults Save Lives? Science, 302, 1338-1339.

NationConsent to Donation

"Opt In" Consent

Denmark 4.25%Germany 12.00%

UK 17.17%Netherlands 27.50%

"Opt Out" Consent

Sweden 85.90%Belgium 98.00%Poland 99.50%

Portugal 99.64%France 99.91%

Hungary 99.97%Austria 99.98%

I don’t want to think about it

AVOIDANCE of contemplating mortality reminders may explain

influence of status quo/social norms in organ donation

3,000 testators in the normal process of completing their wills were randomly assigned to one of three groups

Many of our customers like to leave money to

charity in their will. Are there any causes you’re

passionate about?

Would you like to leave any money to charity in your will?

No reference to charity

Cabinet Office Behavioural Insights Team (2013) Applying behavioural insights to charitable giving

1 2 3

5.0%

10.4%

15.4%

Charitable bequests are influenced by a simple social example

Charitable plans among

1,000 testators


1,000 testators


1,000 testatorsMany of our customers like to leave money to

charity in their will. Are there any causes you’re

passionate about?

Would you like to leave any money to charity in your will?

No reference to charity


The social example also increased the average amount of bequest gifts


$5,610 $5,291

$11,333

No ask Simple Ask Social NormUsing £1=$1.70 exchange rate


1,000 testators


1,000 testators


1,000 testators

The social example dramatically increased total charitable dollars


$280,500

$550,264

$1.75 million

No ask Simple Ask Social NormUsing £1=$1.70 exchange rate

among1,000 testators



The social norm increased charitable bequest intentions

Interested Now

30%

23%12%

Will Never Be

Interested

9%

12%14%

2014 Survey, 1,866 Respondents, Groups D/E/LateG+H

Many people like to leave a gift to charity in their will. Are

there any causes you would support in this way?


Make a bequest gift to charity

Family words (simple language and LIFE STORIES)

outperformformal words

(technical, contract, market terms)


Set social norms with family words (Life Stories)

not formal words

New Survey

If you were asked in the next 3 months, what is the likelihood that you might GIVE money to _____?

If you signed a will in the next 3 months, what is the likelihood you might leave a BEQUEST gift to _____?

v.

Instead of testing question wording, now

testing impact of marketing messages for

40 national charities(4,560 participants)

Baseline BEQ GiveAmer Cancer Society 26.79 36.77The Red Cross 25.93 41.12ASPCA 24.18 33.77Habitat for Humanity 24.01 34.90Amer Heart Association 23.17 33.95Natl Cancer Coalition 22.56 34.54Breast Cancer Res Fnd 22.53 33.93Natl Breast Cancer Fnd 22.43 33.48The Amer Humane Assn 22.23 33.91The Alzheimer's Found 21.40 32.00Susan G. Komen Br Canc 21.39 29.22Dana Farber Cancer Inst 21.13 29.63American Diabetes Assn 20.84 32.54World Wildlife Fund 20.82 29.08Guide Dogs for the Blind 20.80 31.46The Alzheimer's Assn 20.80 31.86American Lung Assn 20.78 31.40MD Anderson Cancer Cr 20.59 30.53UNICEF 20.37 32.31The Salvation Army 19.98 31.44

Baseline BEQ GiveWildlife Conserv Soc 19.90 29.26Goodwill Industries 19.65 34.42Big Brothrs/Big Sisters 19.47 30.49The United Way 18.97 28.97Joslin Diabetes Center 18.91 29.18Canine Compan for In 18.90 29.67Fnd Fightng Blindness 18.77 28.37AIDS Project LA 17.71 25.64Prevent Blindss Amer 17.51 28.32San Fran AIDS Found 17.39 25.49Nat Audubon Society 17.33 24.24YMCA 17.16 28.12Boys and Girls Clubs 17.14 30.10Girl Scouts 16.71 31.27YWCA 16.21 24.42Amer Indian College F 15.97 22.33CARE 15.86 24.69Boy Scouts 14.51 23.56United Negro Coll Fnd 14.13 21.90Ducks Unlimited 13.60 19.49

Social NormsFormal Evidence

Information indicating that it is common for Americans

to leave 5% or 10% to charity. Sharing survey

results showing agreement with concept.

Spendthrift Heirs Formal Evidence

Statistics showing how rapidly heirs typically

spend inheritance from published academic

research

MessageGive-

BEQ GapGap 50+

Gap Male

Gap Female

None 10.2 14.0 7.7 11.7Spendthrift Heirs (Formal) 9.4 11.4 8.4 10.1Social Norms (Formal) 8.8 11.7 7.5 9.7Heirs + Social Norms 8.0 10.2 6.4 9.0

“when discussing which charities they had chosen to remember, there

was a clear link with the life narratives of many respondents”

Life storiesSummarizing a series of interviews with planned

donors, Dr. Claire Routley wrote…

Charitable bequest decision making emphasizes “visualized

autobiography” brain regions Contrast Brain Region

MNI co-ordinates

Peak p FWE

Clust-er p FWE

(1) Beq> Give Lingual Gyrus -2, -78, -2 .004 .000Precuneus 26, -66, 42 .102 .009

(2) Beq> Vol Lingual Gyrus 2, -80, -4 .007 .000Precuneus 30, -66, 40 .180 .004Precentral Gyrus -34, -3, 36 .397 .001

(3) Beq> (Give+ Vol) Lingual Gyrus 0, -78, -4 .001 .000Precuneus 26, -66, 42 .007 .001

James, R. N., III & O’Boyle, M. W. (2014). Charitable estate planning as visualized autobiography: An fMRI study of its neural correlates. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 43(2), 355-373.

With new images or pure text (no significant difference)

Deceased bequest donor life stories

MessageGive-Beq

GapGap 50+

Gap Male

Gap Female

None 10.2 14.0 7.7 11.7Spendthrift Heirs (Formal) 9.4 11.4 8.4 10.1Social Norms (Formal) 8.8 11.7 7.5 9.7Heirs + Social Norms 8.0 10.2 6.4 9.0Deceased Beq. Stories 6.7 7.5 4.4 7.5


Living bequest donor life stories

E.g., “School janitor Lester Holmes died in 1992” becomes “School janitor Lester Holmes signed his will today”

MessageGive-Beq

GapGap 50+

Gap Male

Gap Female

None 10.2 14.0 7.7 11.7Spendthrift Heirs (Formal) 9.4 11.4 8.4 10.1Social Norms (Formal) 8.8 11.7 7.5 9.7Heirs + Social Norms 8.0 10.2 6.4 9.0Deceased Beq. Stories 6.7 7.5 4.4 7.5Living Bequest Stories 4.4 4.3 3.3 5.0

Which of the four message

types worked best for which of the 40

charities?

Living donor stories outperformed all other messages for 40 out of 40 charities tested

Which charities saw the biggest improvement?

Largest improvement• Wildlife Conservation

Society• World Wildlife

Federation• Canine Companions

for the Blind• Guide Dogs for the

Blind• Big Brothers / Big

Sisters of America

The stories featured gifts benefiting

wildlife, dogs,

and youth and two unrepresented categories

(symphony and hospital chapel)

The bequest donor concept helped all charities, but the story cause still mattered


Effect of More Stories1st 4 Stories: Janitor, pet groomer, carpenter, symphony patron

2nd 3 Stories: fisherman, coach, physician

MessageGive-Beq

GapGap 50+

Gap Male

Gap Female

None 10.2 14.0 7.7 11.7Deceased 1st 4 stories 6.8 7.5 5.5 7.6Deceased All 7 stories 6.6 7.5 5.4 7.4Mixed Dec/Liv 7 stories 6.0 7.2 5.0 6.6Living 1st 4 stories 4.8 5.7 3.9 5.4Living All 7 stories 4.1 2.5 3.0 4.7

• Tell as many life stories of living planned bequest donors in as many places as possible

• This helps to set a social norm by example using appropriate language


Action

Results

Theory

Bequests to friends and family (v. charitable bequests) more heavily involve brain regions of Emotion (mid/posterior cingulate cortex; insula) and Memory (hippocampus)

Can a charitable bequest represent a loved one, and thereby connect with this memory and emotion?

Synthetic Familycharity

represents loved one

Familyemotion & memory of loved one

Female, 63 widowed

‘The reason I selected Help the Aged...it was after my mother died...And I just thought – she’d been in a care home for probably three or four years. And I just wanted to help the elderly...I’d also support things like Cancer Research, because people I’ve known have died...An animal charity as well, I had a couple of cats.’

Bequest charity representing loved ones

“‘[In my will I have a gift to] the Cancer Research. My father died of cancer and so I have supported them ever since he died.’

Male, 89 married (Routley, 2011, p. 220-221)

Since many charitable bequest gifts appear to be in honor of a loved one, what happens when we specifically ask about making a charitable bequest honoring a friend or family member?

Do you have a deceased friend or deceased family member who would have appreciated your support of an International relief organization such as CARE or UNICEF? Also tested for living friend or family memberAlzheimer’s The Alzheimer's Association, The Alzheimer's Foundation

Diabetes Joslin Diabetes Center, The American Diabetes Association

Wild Birds Preservation National Audubon Society, Ducks Unlimited

Wildlife World Wildlife Fund, Wildlife Conservation Society

Minority College Fund United Negro College Fund, American Indian College Fund

Blindness related nonprofit Foundation Fighting Blindness, Prevent Blindness America

Youth-related charitable Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, YMCA, YWCA, Big Brothers / Big Sisters of America, Boys and Girls Clubs of America

AIDS research and care San Francisco AIDS Foundation, AIDS Project Los Angeles

Animal welfareAmerican Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, The American Humane Association

International relief UNICEF, Care Cancer research American Cancer Society, National Cancer Coalition, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Dana Farber Cancer Institute

Guide dogsGuide Dogs for the Blind, Canine Companions for Independence

Breast cancer researchBreast Cancer Research Foundation, National Breast Cancer Foundation, Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation

If so, please state your relationship to them and write at least 25 words describing their interest in or connection with this cause.If you signed a will in the next 3 months, what is the likelihood you might leave a BEQUEST gift honoring a living [deceased] friend or family member to _____

Testing the tribute bequest

Change in charitable bequest intention for those with family/friend connection

Total Age 50+ Male FemaleMemorial reminder +14.0 +14.0 +13.5 +14.0Living reminder +9.2 +9.3 +7.7 +9.9

Connection reminder + tribute bequest offer

increases interest

Average share with family/friend connections to each cause

Total Age 50+ Male FemaleMemorial reminder 22.1% 27.1% 19.5% 23.6%Living reminder 34.2% 36.1% 30.4% 36.6%

Change in charitable bequest intention for those with family/friend connection

Total Age 50+ Male FemaleMemorial reminder

+11.7 +12.2 +11.0 +12.1

Memorial reminder(after other messages)

+15.0 +14.0 +15.3 +14.8

Living reminder

+9.4 +11.3 +6.4 +10.0

Living reminder (after other messages)

+9.2 +9.1 +7.9 +9.9

Connection reminder + tribute bequest offer can be “stacked” with other bequest messages

Giving – Tribute Bequest

TotalAge 50+ Male Female

Memorial reminder(after living/ deceased stories)

-4.2 -1.7 -6.5 -3.1

Living reminder (after living/ deceased stories)

-3.3 -2.3 -2.4 -3.7

Donor stories + tribute reminder eliminates giving-bequest gap for those with friend/family connections

DONOR STORY

TRIBUTE REMINDER

DONOR STORY

DONOR STORY

Do tribute bequests work better/worse

for different types of organizations?

Memorial LivingDiabetes 16.9 Wild birds 12.8Alzheimer’s 16.0 Diabetes 12.7AIDS 14.1 AIDS 11.4Minority college fund 14.0 Alzheimer’s 11.2Cancer 12.6 Int’l relief 10.4Breast canc. 11.7 Blindness 10.3Wild birds 11.1 Pets 9.5Int’l relief 10.9 Cancer 9.4Pets 10.6 Guide dogs 9.3Blindness 10.2 Breast canc. 8.6Guide dogs 9.2 Minority

college fund 7.4Youth 7.7 Wildlife 6.1Wildlife 7.1 Youth 5.2

ImpactChange in charitable bequest intention for

those with family/friend connection

FrequencyLikelihood of reporting a family or friend

connection with the cause

Memorial LivingCancer 46% Pets 56%Breast canc. 39% Breast canc. 54%Alzheimer’s 29% Cancer 49%Diabetes 28% Wildlife 41%Pets 28% Diabetes 38%Wildlife 18% Youth 37%Guide dogs 15% Alzheimer’s 30%Youth 15% Guide dogs 23%Int’l relief 14% Wild birds 18%AIDS 11% Minority

college fund 18%Wild birds 10% AIDS 17%Blindness 9% Int’l relief 16%Minority college fund 8% Blindness 15%

Impact and frequency vary with cause

Do memorial or tribute bequests work better or worse for different family members?

Tribute bequests are more attractive for ascendants, less for descendants or friends

Family and friend words associated with interest in a tribute bequest(ranked by strength of correlation)

Positive Non-significant Negativegrandmother +7.5 dad girl -12.8family +3.5 children boy -13.7mother +2.4 uncle kids -8.4aunt +2.6 sister girls -12.1grandfather +2.7 mom friends -3.5husband +3.6 wife boys -11.6

cousin brother -6.4parents daughter -6.1son child -5.8father friend -1.4

Describing the family member’s charitable connection with positive emotional language

predicts interest in tribute bequestBest 20-word statistical model to predict interest in tribute bequest

(Maximum R2 Model With All Words Appearing 100+ times except those describing the cause, appearing in the question, or not independently meaningful from 7,726 separate descriptions of relationship and their charitable connection)

Positive word Avg. Diff. Negative word Avg. Diff.us +11.78 boy -14.08

lovers +11.06 girl -12.98happy +10.42 involved -8.92love +9.87 donation -6.88we +8.98 kids -6.59

loved +8.66 organization -2.12grandmother +8.34 money -2.09

passed +8.31 friends -0.83donate +8.15family +5.83help +5.33my +4.21

Simple language and starting with honor

Interested Now

23%16%13%

Will Never Be

Interested

17%21%21%

2014 Survey, 1,961 Respondents, Groups B/A/H

Honor a friend or family member by making a memorial gift to charity in

my last will & testament

Make a bequest gift to charity in my last will & testament in honor of a

friend or family member who appreciated the charity's work

Make a bequest gift to charity in my last will & testament in honor of a friend or family member who was

passionate about the charity's work

Simple reminderSample courtesy of Phyllis Freedman, President of SmartGiving and

“The Planned Giving Blogger”

the previous study, 22% increased their intentioneven more when given the option to “Honor a friend or family member by making a memorial gift to charity in my last will & testament”

Among those initially asked the best phrased charitable bequest question, even without any reminders as in

• Ask about family/friend connections• Share the option of honoring a family

member by making a tribute gift to charity in the will

• Tell stories of those whose plans include tribute gifts


Action

Results

Theory

Social Desirability

Bias


The motivational effects of tax

benefits are clear when measured

directly

People are unlikely to report giving as motivated by personal benefits like tax deductions

Interested Now

50%

33%

31%

Will Never Be

Interested

8%

14%

20%

2014 Survey, 1,904 Respondents, Groups D/E/F

Receive a tax deduction and make a

gift that pays you income for life.

Make a gift that pays you income for life and

receive a tax deduction.

Make a gift that pays you income for life.

Mentioning tax deductions increases charitable interest

Interested Now

26%

12%

11%

Will Never Be

Interested

23%

33%

42%

2014 Survey, 1,826 Respondents, Groups F/B/D

Immediately receive a tax deduction for 70% of the value of a house or land by making a charitable gift of the property, but

keeping the RIGHT TO USE it for the rest of your life.

Make a charitable gift of either a house or land, but keep the RIGHT TO USE for the rest of your life and immediately

receive a tax deduction for 70% of the value of the property.

Make a charitable gift of either a house or land, but keep the RIGHT TO USE it

for the rest of your life.


InterestedNow

28%

27%

21%

Will Never Be

Interested

17%

20%

25%

2014 Survey, 1,782 Respondents, Groups E/A/C

Get an immediate tax deduction by making a gift where you still control the

investment of the assets, and receive income from the investments for the rest of

your life with anything left over going to charity at your death.

Make a gift where you get an immediate tax deduction, still

control the investment of the assets and receive income from the investments for the rest of your life with anything left over going

to charity at your death.

Make a gift where you still control the investment of the assets, and receive income from the investments for the rest of your life

with anything left over going to charity at your death.



Social Desirability Bias It is good to note benefits, but don’t identify personal benefits as the motivation

People who join the legacy society make a “second gift” because

their example can influence others to make the same commitment.

People join the legacy society so that everyone will know how philanthropic

they are.

Age and gender

differences

Difference in older (50+) v. all respondents

QuestionsI Will

Never Be Interested

Definitely Interested

NowAll gift of cash +0.1% +2.4%

All bequest gift +8.5% +0.6%All tribute bequest +10.1% -0.2%

All TOD +13.2% -0.2%All donor advised fund +13.9% -0.2%All gift of stocks/bonds +14.3% +0.0%All retained life estate +15.9% -0.9%

All CGA +16.8% -2.3%All CRT +25.2% -1.9%

A larger share of older adults are decidedly resistant to bequest

giving and planned giving

Older adults are initially more resistant to bequest giving but more responsive to

bequest marketing

No Messa

ge

Spendthrift

Heirs

Form

al Socia

l Norm

s

Both Heirs &

Norms

Decease

d 1st 4 st

ories

Decease

d All 7 st

ories

Mixed Dec/L

iv 7 st

ories

Living 1st

4 storie

s

Living All 7

storie

s0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

All50+

Giv

e-Be

ques

t Gap

Older adults are initially more resistant to

bequest giving but are more responsive to

bequest giving marketing{ { { {

{ { {{

}

Change in charitable bequest intention for those with family/friend connection Total Age 50+

Memorial reminder +13.97 +13.96Living reminder +9.22 +9.33

Older adults initially more resistant to tribute bequest concept (survey #1) but more

responsive to tribute bequest reminder (#2)

Average share with family/friend connections to each cause

Total Age 50+Memorial reminder 22.1% 27.1%Living reminder 34.2% 36.1%

Will Never Be Interested

All 50+

All bequest gift 15.9% 24.4%

All tribute bequest 20.3% 30.4%

All gift of cash

All be-quest gift

All trib-ute be-quest

All TOD All donor

advised fund

All gift of stocks/ bonds

All life estate

All CGA All CRT

Female v Male

0.076 0.005 0 -0.018 -0.028 -0.042 -0.045 -0.049 -0.057

-5.0%

-3.0%

-1.0%

1.0%

3.0%

5.0%

7.0%

Fem

ale

- Mal

e Di

ffere

nce

in

perc

enta

ge "

inte

rest

ed n

ow"

Women have relatively higher interest in cash gifts, equal for bequest gifts, lower for

other planned giving

Other Phrasing Odds and

Ends

Results

Action

Theory

What about other estate giving phrases?

“leave a legacy” or “continue my

support”?

“Leave a legacy” not helpful

Interested Now

22%

26%

Will Never Be

Interested

14%

12%

2014 Survey, 1,072 Respondents, Group G-early/C

Leave a legacy gift to charity in my last will &

testament

Make a gift to charity in my last will & testament

“Continue my support” had mixed results

2014 Survey, 2,223 Respondents, Group H-early/C (unspecified), G/H (specific dollar or percentage),

Continue my support of my favorite charities

through a gift in my last will & testament

v. Make a gift to charity in my last will & testament

Slight decrease for unspecified

bequest.

Slight increase for specific

dollar bequest.

Slight increase for percentage

of estate bequest.

Should we avoid using

“death” words?

Avoiding added “death” words has little effect

Interested Now

23%

23%

Will Never Be

Interested

14%

12%

2014 Survey, 1,317 Respondents, Group E/F

Make a gift to charity in my last will & testament

that will take effect at my death


Avoiding added “death” words has little effect

Interested Now

12%

15%

Will Never Be

Interested

33%

32%

2014 Survey, 1,218 Respondents, Group B/E

Make a charitable gift of either a house or land, but keep the right

to use it for the rest of your life and immediately

receive a tax deduction for 70% of the value of the property.

Make a charitable gift of either a house or land, but keep the right to use it until you die and

immediately receive a tax deduction for 70% of the value of

the property.

Any special phrasing for bank

account or retirement

account transfer-on-death

beneficiary designations?

2014 Survey, 2,214 Respondents, Groups G/H/D

Slight improvement with a percentage option

Interested Now

14.4%

14.0%

11.6%

Will Never Be

Interested24.1%

29.0%

25.6%

Make a gift by naming a charity as a transfer-on-death beneficiary

for some percentage of a bank account or retirement account.

Make a gift by naming a charity as a transfer-on-death beneficiary

for 10% of a bank account or retirement account.

Make a gift by naming a charity as a transfer-on-death beneficiary on a

bank account or retirement account.

Interested Now

12%

12%

Will Never Be

Interested

26%

26%

2014 Survey, 1,246 Respondents, Groups D/E

Make a gift by naming a charity as a transfer-on-death beneficiary on a bank account

or retirement account.

Leave a gift by naming a charity as a transfer-on-death beneficiary on a bank account

or retirement account.

“Make a gift” or “Leave a gift” no difference

Interested Now

12%

9%

Will Never Be

Interested

26%

31%

2014 Survey, 1,203 Respondents, Groups D/C

Make a gift by naming a charity as a transfer-on-death beneficiary on a bank account or retirement

account.

Make a bequest gift by naming a charity as a

beneficiary on a bank account or retirement

account.

Don’t use “Bequest”

Are people more responsive to

leaving a percentage of the estate, a specific dollar amount, or

unspecified?

Interested Now

26%

21%

15%

Will Never Be

Interested

12%

14%

28%

2014 Survey, Groups C(606)/H(855)/H(855)

Make a gift to charity in my last will & testament.

Make a gift to charity of a specific dollar amount in

my last will & testament.

Make a gift to charity of a percentage of my estate

in my last will & testament.

Unspecified > dollar amount > percentage gift

Among 18,323 descriptions of the “Typical characteristics of a person who supports this cause” what words best predicted who was interested in making a gift to the organization?

Emotional language when describing “Typical characteristics of a person who supports this

cause” reflects interest in current givingBest 20-word statistical model to predict interest in current giving

(Maximum R2 model with all words appearing 100+ times except those describing the cause, appearing in the question, or not independently meaningful, from 18,323 separate descriptions for various charitable causes)

Positive word Avg. Diff. Negative word Avg. Diff.pain +12.9 liberal -11.8myself + 9.7 funds -7.8survivor + 9.2 fund -6.7heart + 8.9 benefited -6.2willing + 7.1 money -5.4our + 5.6caring + 6.3should + 4.6cure + 4.9lost + 5.2kind + 5.6life + 4.2love + 3.3friend + 2.2help + 2.5

• Use family words (stories and simple words) not formal words

• Use social examples/norms• Tell life stories of planned bequest

donors • Talk about benefits – in the right way• Ask about family/friend connections to

the cause and give the option of a tribute gift in the will

• Tell life stories of donors whose plans include tribute gifts

• Keep communicating to older donors

Philanthropy as synthetic

family: a SOCIAL act using the

mechanisms of FAMILY bonding

Words That WorkThe phrases that encourage planned giving

Government & Nonprofit

Talking Planned Giving: Words that Work