That guidance on p. 36 is not all that clear. I know it's not an easy task for the CASE committees to draft this language; but still, not that clear.
My read is that on p. 36 CASE is referring to VSE reporting when it comes to reporting revocable life insurance policies and retirement plan assets, which are lumped into the larger category of "bequest/legacy intention." But for other counting purposes, is CASE stating on the bottom of p. 35 that "These standards do not suggest value an institution may assign for donor recognition purposes or in fundraising reports to their constituencies." ?? If so, that is consistent with my experience -- VSE reporting is not going to necessarily line up with "fundraising reports to constituencies"... however vague that latter terminology may be.
Does CASE offers guidance on expected distributions from a revocable lead trust over a period of years? I'm not finding it, but that seems to get at a level of granularity that maybe CASE wouldn't try to focus in on. All the same, I don't see such arrangements as being different from other revocable intentions that are routinely counted in campaign totals by organizations. I'm not sure how the funding source (lead trust, estate, retirement account, LI policy, etc.), or the expected arrival of the gift (relatively soon, or in 25+ years) should affect whether or not it's counted, if an org is otherwise following guidelines of separate reporting of revocable intentions. If anything, the RLT gift intentions may be most likely to be fulfilled (as compared to bequest intentions from donors age 65-70) if the RLT distributions are to arrive in the near term. In some ways RLT intentions are very similar to counting revocable DAF intentions.
------------------------------
Tom Yates
Temple University
Executive Director of Gift Planning
215-926-2545
tyates@temple.edu------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 01-14-2022 08:54 AM
From: John Taylor
Subject: Best practices for recording and reporting on 'new' planned gift value in this campaign
First, to be clear, there is a difference between a revocable lead trust (where a donor can change beneficiaries, but the trust must ultimately benefit a charity) and a revocable bequest, which can be eliminated in its entirety. With an RLT, most organizations do not count anything other than the annual payments actually received.
Interestingly, CASE disallows the counting of revocable life insurance policies and retirement plan assets - which I do not see as being much different from revocable bequests (see page 32 & 36).
I have encountered many organizations that choose not to count anything that is revocable. When I ask, it is often due to optics and issues from previous campaigns where announced totals did not always materialize.
But, yes, CASE does permit counting these but does not require that you do. To your point, if you decide to count them, CASE urges establishing individual goals, reporting separately, and "periodic verification of the commitment."
John
John H. Taylor
Principal
John H. Taylor Consulting, LLC
2604 Sevier St.
Durham, NC 27705
919.816.5903 (cell/text)
Serving the Advancement Community Since 1987
Original Message:
Sent: 1/14/2022 9:33:00 AM
From: Tom Yates
Subject: RE: Best practices for recording and reporting on 'new' planned gift value in this campaign
Hi John,
Why wouldn't an organization count a revocable trust gift in its campaign totals? This is widespread practice and supported by CASE counting standards, assuming that donor is age 65 or older. I understand that CASE recommends a separate campaign reporting line for bequest expectancies, but the expectancies are still rolled up into the campaign totals.
Thanks,
Tom
------------------------------
Tom Yates
Temple University
Executive Director of Gift Planning
215-926-2545
tyates@temple.edu
Original Message:
Sent: 01-13-2022 02:52 PM
From: John Taylor
Subject: Best practices for recording and reporting on 'new' planned gift value in this campaign
The first question is whether you should count anything. As the trust is revocable (I assume that is the R in RLT), many organizations would not count this in their campaign totals.
But, assuming this counts I think it is cleaner to add a new gift. However, I would add a comment to this gift and the first one indicating the two are related.
John
John H. Taylor
919.816.5903 (Cell/Text)
Big Ideas; Small Keyboard
Original Message:
Sent: 1/13/2022 3:28:00 PM
From: Kelly Hatton
Subject: Best practices for recording and reporting on 'new' planned gift value in this campaign
Looking for best practices for recording and reporting on 'new' planned gift value in this campaign from 7/1/18 to the present.
How do we record an increase in a planned gift that was previously documented or stated amount and recorded in the last campaign (2014) in this campaign (2018)?
Example: Donor increased the value of their RLT from $3mm to $4.5mm - the $1.5 mm is new to our pipeline for this campaign. We have the Planned Giving module in Raiser's Edge/NXT along with PG Calc and Gift Wrap.
Question:
If the $1.5 is new…do we add this as a new gift in the system dated after 7/1/18 when we were notified of the increase? So it would have 2 entries that include the original dated prior to 7/1/18 and the new entry dated after 7/1/18 totaling the new commitment.
OR do we update the previous amount and utilize other fields to pull in as 'new' value for this campaign?
Thanks,
Kelly
------------------------------
Kelly Hatton
Director of Advancement Services
Hanover College
hattonk@hanover.edu
------------------------------