In 1906, after learning that her marriage disqualified her from teaching in the public school system, Margaret Hunter Kinkaid invited seven students to begin classes in the dining room of her Houston home. Within the decade, her house brimmed with students. By mid-century, the school had expanded to a wooded 40-acre site in a Houston suburb and served 884 boys and girls.
Fast-forward to 2001, when Tom Moore joined The Kinkaid School, one of the largest independent nonsectarian schools in Texas. Innovation had long been a hallmark of the school's approach to learning. As the new director of development, Tom saw the opportunity to evaluate the school's planned giving program.
Fast Facts
Current enrollment: 1,280 boys and girls, grades pre-kindergarten through 12
Dollars raised annually: About $6.5 million, primarily in outright gifts
Margaret Hunter Kinkaid Society members: 30 in 2001; 50 in 2010 (67 percent increase)
Planned giving marketing budget: Approximately $10,000 a year
Marketing methods used: Direct mail newsletter, quarterly e-newsletters, planned giving Web pages, in-house magazine ads and envelope stuffers
"We've really evolved," Tom says. When he first came to Kinkaid, the school had a contract with Stelter to mail three or four planned giving newsletters a year. "The content was informative but the stories mostly were generic planned giving pieces with little connection to Kinkaid other than the photos," he says. Thanks to suggestions from Stelter's account team, Kinkaid began including testimonials from members of the school community about making planned gifts. "A couple of years later, after reading planned giving literature and talking to other institutions with successful planned giving marketing programs, I became convinced that the story's message should be connected with the school's mission. This change produced immediate positive feedback from the audience."
About five years ago, the school trimmed back the number of direct mail newsletters it sent each year from four to two in order to free dollars to spend on other marketing channels. Kinkaid also tinkered with the direct mail format, testing and eventually rejecting a self-mailer style newsletter with a tear-off reply card, in favor of a single-sheet newsletter with a reply card inserted into an envelope.
Next, the school enhanced the planned giving pages on its website, opting for a site hosted by Stelter that liberated staff from having to maintain and update the content. They also started to include envelope stuffers promoting the website with the mailing of gift receipts, another low-cost way of communicating with donors. When an e-mail component was added to the mix in 2008, traffic to the planned giving pages spiked dramatically.
Recently, the school began segmenting the content of its e-newsletters to better target a diverse audience, which ranges from grandparents and parents of current students to young alumni. Kinkaid e-mails each group four times a year with planned giving and mission-oriented articles tailored to the different age groups. As a result, the school's e-mail open and readership rates rank well above the averages posted by about 250 nonprofits using a similar approach.
Like many nonprofits with a relatively young planned giving program that targets a small donor base, dramatic results remain elusive. "Although we haven't had many large planned gifts yet," Tom admits, "our membership in our planned giving society has increased significantly. I also believe by having a constant presence we are providing a valuable service that our community can use to assist in their estate planning."
Lessons Learned
Make it personal. Focus on the people you serve and the good work you accomplish. Weave gift planning messages into personal stories to amplify their relevance.
Segment your audience. Look for common characteristics among your donor base and tailor messages accordingly. Research shows that age is a strong characteristic to use in segmenting planned giving donors, along with recency, frequency and amount of giving.
Be consistent. It often takes decades to build a strong planned giving pipeline. Keep in mind that the majority of people who currently have a charity named in their will prefer to keep their generosity a secret. Also, many constituents receive planned giving information from several sources, and it is important to have a regular presence to keep your institution on their radar. Therefore, it's wise to maintain your marketing efforts even though you might not initially see the rewards.
