Chester County Community Foundation

  Let Your Legacy Make a Difference

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For many people, talking with others about family interests, leisure time activities, and community pursuits comes easily.  But talking with others about core values, money, and legacy plans is difficult at best.

However, cultivating and sustaining legacy donors is a circular process that is ongoing and regenerating.  Over 99% of the legacy donor relationship has nothing to do with actually asking for money. Here are six ways that volunteers can help develop enthusiastic legacy donors for the Community Foundation.

#1-be a donor

Make your own stretch gift to the annual campaign and events. Create your own legacy fund, even if you start as an acorn fund that grows to the minimum grantmaking level over time

Having your own legacy fund confirms your own commitment, builds your confidence in being able to talk with others about the subject, and conveys worlds of assurances to others.  Plus, you get to do something good for the world, forever.

#2-be an ambassador

An ambassador naturally talks about the Community Foundation wherever they go. 

To be a good ambassador:
·      Observe good ambassadors in action.
·      Understand and overcome your own roadblocks to talking about the Community Foundation.
·      Think of past opportunities you have had to talk about the Community Foundation.
·      Identify future situations where you could share your personal feelings about the Community
Foundation with others.
·      Select potential donors to talk with about the Community Foundation.
·      Practice! Practice! Practice!
·      Talk about the Community Foundation at home.
·      Talk about the Community Foundation with close friends.
·      Talk about the Community Foundation at work.
·      Talk about the Community Foundation with strangers.

#3-Be a Sleuth... a researcher

A sleuth is always looking for potential donors to the Foundation.

Active sleuths find out, when talking with another person, if they are open to the possibility of learning more about the Community Foundation.

Quiet sleuths explore, through third party means, viable prospects for your organization.

To be a good Sleuth:
·   Know what kinds of people the Community Foundation hopes will create a legacy fund
·      Test if someone is given to philanthropy by recounting a personally fulfilling experience with the Community Foundation.  See if this evokes a parallel feeling from the prospect about a nonprofit of their choice. Establish common ground about the satisfaction of participating as a volunteer.
·      Ask the prospect if you can add their name to the Community Foundation’s mailing list and ask they would like to visit the Community Foundation or attend an event at some point. 
·      Take the opportunity to ask people who know the Community Foundation to suggest other individuals who might be interested in creating a legacy fund.
·      Look for leads in the press, and in other nonprofits’ invitations, programs and annual reports.
·      Think of the obvious/not obvious names.  Often a well-known person is unnecessarily overlooked because it is assumed that they would not have the time or be interested.
·      Work with the Community Foundation’s leadership to identify links to the person.  Follow up to sure the person is contacted, especially with invitations to Foundation events.

#4-be a cultivator

A cultivator actively participates in a structured activity that is part of the Community Foundation’s organized asset development process.

Cultivation is pre-planned and carried out explicitly as a precursor to soliciting the prospect.  Several cultivation steps may be involved.  It is very important to plan the process with the Community Foundation’s leadership. Supports in place in advance of cultivation include, but are not limited to the following:
·      A list of ways to involve the prospect with the Foundation. This could include a tour, a reception, a one-on-one meeting, a formal or an informal gathering, online, committee service, etc.
·      Written materials such as fact sheets, annual report, professional advisor information, and planned giving opportunities.
·      A coaching/role playing practice session that includes key talking points.

#5-be a solicitor

A solicitor, usually working with a team member, asks a prospect, face-to-face, for a gift to create a legacy fund.

#6-be a steward

A steward makes sure that as much care goes into sustaining and growing partnerships with the Community Foundation’s donors after receipt of a gift as was spent before the contribution.

This includes making sure that educational, networking, and thank you gatherings are planned and implemented, and that input is gathered from constituents as to their expectations and satisfaction.  This also includes assuring strong internal financial controls and annual financial audits, as well as communicating initiatives, successes and accomplishments to constituents.

Upcoming Fund Activities and Events

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