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Planned Giving Programs

Predictive Modeling can be applied to the identification of the best candidates for planned gifts. As historical giving data becomes available, it is possible to identify the characteristics of donors most likely to make these types of gifts.


Predictive Analytics for Planned Giving

Historical giving data points to donor loyalty and age as key characteristics of planned gift donors, but that information—although now widely accepted in the nonprofit world—comprises less than half of the composite profiles for each planned giving vehicle. The missing criteria, critical to the accurate prediction of planned giving action, include:

  • Loyalty to you: The most common method of tracking loyalty to your organization is by examining giving or membership behavior. That information is tracked in a constituent relationship management (CRM) system, and it is the one aspect of loyalty that all organizations, colleges, and universities track. Ideally, a more expansive view of loyalty would include volunteerism, event attendance, and other elements of the concept typically referred to as “engagement.”
  • Age cohorts: While predictive modeling demonstrates that cultivation and solicitation shouldn’t be focused exclusively on older individuals, age is a predictor of planned giving. Cohort or generational data, such as information on Baby Boomers or members of The Greatest Generation, has proven very helpful in focusing the marketing and cultivation of planned giving prospects on age-appropriate individuals.
  • Engagement with other organizations: Advances in data collection pertaining to charitable giving and support of political activities and candidates have allowed us to identify these activities as predictive of planned giving behavior. Prospects for planned gifts are, or in other cases were, involved in pursuits to improve their communities or support activities of personal interest to them. NOZA®, the largest and most accurate source of past charitable giving behavior in the United States, combined with self-reported charitable giving behavior, allows us to build stronger profiles of all types of donors, including those who make bequests, annuities, and trusts.


For more information on this topic, please visit: Demographic Indicators

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