A fundraising colleague emailed me this story about Grace Groner, a “hidden millionaire” who left her $7 million estate to her alma mater, Lake Forest College, upon her death. Grace Groner was never married, had no heirs, and lived alone in a modest one-bedroom home, which itself had been willed to her by a friend. As a graduate of the class of 1931, Grace lived an austere and quiet life, and none but her very closest friends ever suspected she had any notable wealth.
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I’ve heard it said that embracing transformational giving on a personal level can be described as an adventure. As I prepared to lead October and November trainings on biblical planned giving, I reflected for the first time ever on my own biblical planned giving legacy. I had never before been challenged to do this and happily found it to be nothing short of an adventure (once I got past my procrastination)...
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When I lived in a town that billed itself as the Track Capital of the United States (Eugene, OR), I was exposed to the sport of track and field. You couldn’t escape seeing people jogging throughout the day or catching a glimpse of world class runners during track season. Running wasn’t just an event; it was a way of life.
There were many running clubs and groups that you could be a part of. People joined, or gathered, because they needed exercise, wanted fresh air, had to get into shape...
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A prominent national planned giving consultancy, the Stelter Company, recently released some interesting market research, and among their findings was this gem: “Just one in three aged 30 and older (37%) say they are familiar with the term ‘planned giving’.”So the nonprofit community has developed an entire industry around a term that the vast majority of their champions don’t understand! For the record, planned giving is a sloppy and imprecise sort of catchall term to begin with....
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I get pretty excited when I talk about Transformational Giving because it’s a donor discipleship model, not a donor solicitation model. The MIF approach is one that ‘starts with you.’ It makes sense that you are best able to teach and disciple others – such as your ministry champions – when you have first experienced or practiced something yourself.
Does it stretch your imagination to ‘start with you’ when it comes to the typically dry, complicated, technical, and boring topic...
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