Asking Donors for Bequests and Other Estate Gifts Through Direct Mail

NEW BOOKS

How to Raise Planned Gifts by Mail, by Larry Stelter, offers advice and case studies about attracting bequests and other such donations. Mr. Stelter, president of the Stelter Company, a planned-giving communications firm, also provides examples of letters sent to current and former donors encouraging them to include a charity in their wills or other estate plans. The author describes who should receive the mailing, what information to include and how to write it, how to improve a charity’s effort to solicit planned gifts, and what an appeal letter and envelope should look like. One chapter deals specifically with female donors. Appendices offer sample worksheets, surveys, and activity reports to help charities create their own planned-giving mail.

Publisher: Emerson & Church, P.O. Box 338, Medfield, Mass. 02052; (508) 359-0019; fax (508) 359-2703; http://www.emersonandchurch.com; 102 pages; $24.95; ISBN 978-1-889102-33-7.