The Situation
The Hill School is a private, traditional boarding school located in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. Due to their high volume of loyal donors, Catapult Fundraising partnered with The Hill School to assist in cultivating relationships with those donors with the highest planned giving potential.
“It would take about 8 years for one Director of Planned Giving to visit 1,000 donors; it took Legacy Calls 3 months. — Christian Sockel, Assistant Headmaster for Advancement”
The Solution
Catapult created a highly personalized planned giving telephone outreach program and selected 1,000 of the Hill School's most loyal donors to contact. Donors were initially called by Catapult's Tier 1 callers who thanked the prospect for their years of loyal support and determined the prospect's interest in making a planned gift. Depending on the prospect's level of interest, an additional phone call was made by a Tier 2 caller, a planned giving specialist with more than 20 years of planned giving experience. Tier 2 callers informed prospects of planned gift options and confirmed and quantified planned gifts.
The Goals
The planned giving calling program had four broad goals:
- To thoroughly thank the donors for their loyal support over the years
- To determine interest in including The Hill School in their estate plans
- To confirm and quantify gifts already completed and thank/recognize these donors
- To educate/assist donors about planned gift options
The Result — Phase One
Of the 1,000 prospects called, 518 were reached. Of these, 28% expressed a current interest in planned giving or had already completed a planned gift. Tier 2 callers followed up with each of these individuals to secure the gift. An additional 70 prospects expressed interest in exploring options for a planned gift in the future. The Hill School will follow up with these prospects in the future.
Tier 2 callers secured and received written/verbal confirmation of 41 planned gifts, totaling $2,166,000. There is potential of an additional $90,000 from prospects with short-term planned giving/outright interest, a potential $180,000 in long-term planned giving interest, a potential $350,000 from prospects with possible future interest, and a potential $92,500 from prospects who would like to continue to receive planned giving marketing materials.
- Total confirmed gifts: $2,166,000
- Total potential gifts: $712,500
- Total gift potential/confirmed gifts: $2,878,500
Phase Two
Because of the great success of the planned giving calling program, The Hill School partnered with Catapult on a second phase of calling. Of the 501 prospects called, 121 were reached. Of those reached, 36 prospects expressed a current interest in planned giving or had already completed a planned gift. The pre-call letter was the catalyst for another prospect to reveal a previously unknown $1,000,000 gift commitment. An additional 22 prospects expressed interest in exploring options for a planned gift in the future.
Tier 2 callers secured and received written/verbal confirmation of 6 planned gifts, totaling $5,500,000. One prospect is in the process of completing his gift ($50,000 potential). There is potential of an additional $80,000 from prospects with short-term planned giving/outright interest, a potential $220,000 in long-term planned giving interest, a potential $110,000 from prospects with possible future interest, and a potential $40,000 from prospects who would like to continue to receive planned giving marketing materials.
- Total confirmed gifts: $5,500,000
- Total potential gifts: $500,000
- Total gift potential/confirmed gifts: $6,000,000
Phase 1 & 2 Grand Totals
- Total confirmed gifts: $7,666,000
- Total potential gifts: $1,212,500
- Total gift potential/confirmed gifts: $8,878,500