Documenting Bequests in Interactions

Just imagine …

You are having a great conversation with a longtime donor. They love giving to UGA, but they are worried about economic uncertainty. They can’t commit to a large gift right now. Maybe they’re a little bit older; maybe they don’t have children or their children are already well established in their own lives. Lights flicker. The hair on the back of your neck stands up. A raven caws in the distance. Could this be time for …  PLANNED GIVING?

You want to bring it up, but you’re worried. You’re not as familiar with planned giving. Even hinting at the idea of death intimidates you. Isn’t that a bunch of lawyer stuff anyway? What do you do if they are interested?

First, take a deep breath. You have resources at your disposal. In fact, they are always available on the DAR Resources page. In addition to general one-pagers about gift and estate planning, IRA giving, and charitable gift annuities, there is sample bequest language tailored to your school, college or unit.

You bravely broach the topic of an estate gift. Your donor is receptive and asks how that would work. Thankfully, you are prepared to provide sample bequest language based on your donor’s interest. After you provide that information to a donor, please remember to document it in GAIL. This will save you time in the future and ensures that we can honor a donor’s wishes in the future by having a record of what information was provided to them. Here is a peek at how this works: