August 2010—Baynote, the innovator in adaptive Web solutions, announced that The Stelter Company, a leading provider of information on planned charitable giving to nonprofit organizations, has selected the company's Collective Intelligence Platform to improve visitor engagement on its vast network of client websites.

August 2010—Planned giving is an exciting profession where fundraisers assist philanthropic individuals in the creation of planned gifts — allowing donors to obtain tax and financial benefits, but most importantly leaving a legacy with organizations dear to their hearts.
So what does a planned gift look like?

June 2010—The Stelter Company moves social out of marketing with Open Text Social Communities.

March 2010—As fundraisers, our job is to find a balance between delivering the right message, providing information and offering motivation to inspire a person to make a charitable gift.

February 2010—The ever popular charitable gift annuity is typically funded with either cash or marketable securities. But, it has become increasingly important for the gift planner to be able to expand the conversation beyond the basic funding assets when appropriate. Find out if commonly owned assets such as life insurance and commercial annuities can be used effectively.

February 2010—When it comes to measuring results, it's relatively easy to determine the success of your direct mail fundraising efforts. Funds raised through reply cards still reign supreme, and savvy fundraisers also carefully record donor phone calls, e-mails, event attendance and trailing gifts in the weeks following a mailing.

But how do you effectively measure your success online? Here's how to measure your return on investment for your Web site and e-mail marketing.

January/February 2010—If your vendors could give you one piece of advice, what would it be? Some AFP resource partners offer their insights to help fundraisers.

November 2009—On a Sunday evening in July 2009, The Stelter Company launched its latest round of planned giving research with a barrage of phone calls to households across America. It took our pollsters four nights to scientifically document the mood of Americans aged 30 and older on topics that included how the economy has affected giving, individuals' thoughts on inheritance, and their understanding of planned giving terms and vehicles.

November 2009—As the CEO of a marketing firm that specializes in fundraising, I spend much of my time speaking with development professionals across the country about the changing landscape of donor behavior.

November 2009—At both of the nationwide charities where I have worked, there is one issue that exposes the different approaches between the sometimes competing motivations of direct marketing and planned giving departments. That is the issue of whether or not a planned giving check-off box can be included on direct mail response pieces for house-file appeals.

July/August 2009—Nonprofit organizations nationwide are missing out on untold millions in charitable donations by ignoring a largely untapped group of prospects, according to a groundbreaking survey.

 

In the spring of 2008, The Stelter Company combined forces with the national research firm Selzer & Company, Inc., to provide insight into who names charities in their wills, when, and why. Our discovery? The audience that most gift planners target today may represent only the tip of the iceberg.

July 2009—Delegates to the Partnership for Philanthropic Planning's 2009 Leadership Assembly have elected six new members to the Partnership's 2010 board of directors, who will each serve three-year terms beginning January 2010.

1st quarter 2009—Annual giving has always been in the forefront of nonprofits’ fundraising efforts. And it’s no wonder—after all, in 2008 a national study by The Stelter Company revealed that 90 percent of U.S. residents aged 40 and older reported making a contribution to at least one nonprofit in the past year or so, compared to just 7 percent who reported currently including a charitable bequest in their wills.

May/June 2009—Sometimes it can be easy to envy the folks in annual giving departments who can use hard dollars to tally their success at the close of each campaign. In the planned-giving field, where fundraisers often wait decades to see the fruits of their labor, it is harder to evaluate what works and what does not.

May 2009—Nonprofit organizations nationwide are missing out on untold millions in charitable donations by ignoring a largely untapped group of prospects, according to a groundbreaking national survey. In spring 2008, The Stelter Company combined forces with the nationally renowned research firm Selzer & Company Inc. to provide insight into who names charities in their wills, when and why. Our discovery? The audience that most gift planners target today may represent only the tip of the iceberg.

February 2009—Sometimes I envy the folks in annual giving departments who can use hard dollars to tally their success at the close of each campaign. In the planned giving field, where we often wait decades to see the fruits of our labor, it’s harder to evaluate what works and what doesn’t. I’ve long suspected, however, that we have much to learn from our comrades in annual giving, since it’s their donors who typically made planned gifts as well. But how likely is it that an annual giver will make a charitable bequest? What are the best indicators of annual giving and how do they compare to the best indicators for bequest giving?

Sept. 30, 2008—Nonprofits interested in beefing up their planned-giving base should reach out to potential donors in their 40s, according to a recently released study dubbed “Discovering the Secret Giver.”

Conducted for The Stelter Company, a Des Moines, Iowa-based fundraising consultancy, the study examined how and why people age 40 and up make bequests to nonprofit groups. These “secret givers” aren’t generally on fundraisers’ radars, the report found.

August 2008—In the spring of 2008, my company combined forces with the nationally renowned research firm Selzer & Co., Inc., to provide insight into those who name charities in their wills, when they do it and why. Our goals were to:

• Document the world of bequest givers.
• Confirm current strategies that help nonprofits succeed in identifying and cultivating bequests.
• Develop data-driven tactics to help make organizations even more successful.

March 2008—Remember the refrains of the 1980s bubble gum tune “Video Killed the Radio Star”? That ditty bemoaned the triumph of MTV icons eclipsing longtime singers who first found fame with radio audiences. “Rewritten by machine and new technology,” the song wailed.

 

Likewise, during the sweeping advent of online commerce in the last 10 years, planned giving professionals may have expected a lot from e-marketing.

January/February 2008—The Pension Protection Act of 2006 provided a unique window of opportunity—in effect, a laboratory in which to test promotional techniques and quickly assess the results. The lessons learned from these precious 16 months have revealed some best practices that gift planners can apply to future fundraising efforts.