April 23, 2008 | Read Time: 1 minute
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, in Memphis, does better than most charities when it comes to seeking bequests.
The hospital’s annual bequest income has grown from $37-million in 1998 to more than $100-million today.
David L. McKee, St. Jude’s chief operating officer, says one reason it succeeds is that it closely coordinates direct-mail appeals with efforts to seek bequests and other planned gifts.
For example, the hospital sends the names of all direct-mail donors age 65 and older to its planned-giving specialists so they can educate them about planned gifts, following up any interest with visits and other communications. “The average estate gift doubles if we visit them,” says Mr. McKee.
Those donors also get an acknowledgment from the hospital, no matter how small the gift, unlike other donors who get no such acknowledgment if they give $5 or less, says Mr. McKee. That’s because the hospital knows that elderly donors are likely to be on a fixed income but still have valuable assets in their estates.
Even though the number of Americans who die each year has been dropping, Mr. McKee is confident bequests will continue to grow. “For St. Jude’s I do not see a dip coming,” he says. “We have not yet witnessed the top.”
