The Psychology of Planned Giving By Mark Henry, JD

It's natural for people to prefer positive rather than negative things. You need to accentuate the positive, as the classic Ella Fitzgerald tune goes. This is especially true with planned giving marketing. How do you do this in planned giving, a subject rife with negative imaging; mortality, estate, death, taxes, funeral and the like? It's simple, really. All your marketing; your website, brochures, event promotion - all of it - has to be carefully word smithed to lead with positive messages. This isn’t just some unproven theory out of a marketing textbook. There have been studies conclusively showing that people react dramatically differently to planned giving terminology, depending on the language used. Make no mistake, sooner or later you need to talk about death and taxes. After all, death and taxes are driving forces underlying planned giving.
However, these terms are "mortality triggers" that cause many people to drop that planned giving brochure like a hot potato and avoid attending a planned giving event like the plague.
Wherever possible, replace the mortality triggering language with positive themes. Instead of "bequest" speak about a legacy. Instead of funeral plan, call it a sacramental wishes plan. You get the idea. Like Ella Fitzgerald crooned, accentuate the positive!
© Mark Henry JD