Planned Giving and the Online Experience: 6 Considerations

December 6, 2023

Nonprofits might think of planned giving as something that occurs primarily offline—prospective donors are contacted by your fundraisers, they have meetings and phone calls, discuss their giving options, and secure a new donation.

After all, planned giving is inherently personal. It touches on a donor’s financial and estate plans, and it usually brings multi-generational tax implications. The human touch is critical when discussing these gifts and building relationships with donors.

But today, nonprofits of all sizes are feeling a shift, and donor journeys don’t just occur offline. Your website can and should be an active asset that fosters interactions and deepens engagement.

Let’s take a look at the roles your website can play in the planned giving process and the considerations you’ll need to keep in mind if this form of giving is a priority for your organization.

Why should you create a digital home for your planned giving program?

If planned giving isn’t yet a major or recurring part of your nonprofit’s fundraising activities, you may wonder why it warrants special attention on your website. 

Consider the context. One of the biggest benefits of planned giving for nonprofits is that it opens up a broader pool of potential donors—lifelong savers and others who weren’t previously on your radar as major prospects. Planned giving also offers donors unique and often significant tax benefits, adding further nuance to the motivations that draw wide audiences to it.

Think of it this way—a closed, outbound strategy (in which you only actively bring it up to prospects but don’t otherwise promote it) is too limiting for a form of giving that has such broad appeal to many different donors. 

Of course, calls and meetings are still essential for many donors once you’ve made contact and established interest. But your website can help drive results by laying the foundation for that engagement, essentially covering your bases. 

Start the planned giving journey on your website.

Nonprofits accomplish this by first adding planned giving to their ways to give pages and dedicated web pages about their planned giving programs and options. To go the extra mile, many create microsites dedicated specifically to planned giving. These steps ensure that anyone who’s potentially interested in it will be able to find it and learn more.

What are the benefits of promoting planned giving online?

So you create a dedicated page or series about planned giving—what benefits can your nonprofit see as a result?

First, it will expand your program’s reach. 

As noted above, planned giving is accessible to more of your donors than you might initially assume. By ensuring that it’s represented on your website, you can catch the attention of donors who aren’t yet on your radar as prospects. It also greatly simplifies the task of facilitating your program. 

• When you can point donors and prospects to a centralized resource hub to learn more, you’ll free up your team’s time. 
• It also becomes much easier to promote your program via email and social media by linking straight to your planned giving website. 
• You’ll be able to more easily track digital engagement with your program this way and identify ways to improve it over time. 

Online planned giving tools that allow donors to create bequests also provide significant benefits. Taking an active role in the process by equipping donors with these tools ensures that you’ll be notified of new gifts, allowing you to reach out to begin stewarding those relationships.

Fostering a positive experience with your planned giving website

Let’s look at the specific strategies and web design elements that you can use to create better experiences for donors and strengthen your planned giving pipeline:

1. Anticipate users’ needs and questions.

A visitor makes the effort to navigate to your planned giving website—what are they trying to accomplish? 

Anticipate these needs and create a smoother experience by:

• Including an intuitive navigation bar and an FAQ page (or other section with concise answers and definitions. 
• Write clearly and directly.
• Make sure your planned giving officer’s contact information is front and center so that users can immediately get in touch.

2. Provide truly valuable resources. 

Make your website an asset by using it to provide donors with truly valuable information and tools. These can include: 

• Educational articles and glossaries
• Template language for adding bequests to wills
• Free will creation tools
• Links to other reputable sources

Just ensure that your nonprofit never provides direct financial or estate advice; rather, present donors with their options, aim to educate them, and encourage them to speak to professionals if needed. 

3. Use appealing but unobtrusive visual design.

Pages and microsites about planned giving (like all your web pages) should have clean, organized layouts. Use color schemes that reinforce your organization’s brand, and include your main logo, especially on external microsites, to instill trust. 

For visual elements, use photos of real people whenever possible. Photos that convey key messages like “multi-generational,” “community,” and “impactfulness” will work best to make the right impressions quickly.

4. Include clear calls to action (CTAs).

Make your requests simple and clear—learn more about bequests, create your free will, contact us to discuss your options—based on the context of the page or section. CTAs should be presented as buttons or linked images that catch the eye but don’t overcrowd or dominate the page.

5. Follow web accessibility best practices.

Ensuring accessibility not only demonstrates inclusivity and helps protect your organization from liability but also creates a generally better user experience for everyone who visits. 

Using proper color contrast, creating intuitive and well-labeled forms, including alt text for images, and structuring pages with clear heading hierarchies are all easy steps you can take on your own. Using a reliable, modern web-building platform will also help ensure that backend code complications are kept to a minimum.

6. Bridge your digital and real-world engagement.

To maximize engagement, use your planned giving web pages to show donors and prospects your offline program experience. 

Include donor spotlights to recognize their planned gifts and tell their stories about what your mission means to them. Promote a legacy society or other exclusive membership (and perks) just for planned donors. These incentives and forms of social proof can provide the nudge prospects need to go from interested to committed. 

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Establishing a solid digital foundation for your planned giving program can boost your returns over time. And by offering donors a smoother online experience, you not only show respect for their time and attention but also present your nonprofit as web-savvy, active, and helpful.
Plus, many nonprofits use their planned giving programs and websites as springboards to expand into additional types of non-cash gifts. Gifts of stock, DAF grants, IRA distributions, and more can all help your nonprofit reach new levels of growth and impact while giving your donors flexible new options.