Think about this.

Planned giving marketing begins with a good list, right?

I’ve seen it time and time again.  When we look at the folks who said they already left a planned gift or are considering doing so, they are always loyal, high-affinity donors or volunteers.  And, often they are average folks.  Not rich.

Combine this with research we found online and put into our report titled 26 really interesting planned giving marketing charts, stats, and graphs.  Among other things, we found the following:

• 43% of planned givers are under 55
• Average age a person makes their first will is 44 while the average age of a person’s first bequest is 49
• 31% of people never revise their wills while 75% never revise their charitable bequests
• Top reasons people make planned gifts include (at the top of the list) a desire to support the charity and the ultimate use of the gift by that charity
• 70% of donors who made planned gifts did so because they were asked

Now… let’s look at the people who “like” your Facebook page.  I don’t have any research to support what I’m about to write.  But here goes.  People “like” your Facebook page because:

• They want to be closer to your organization and hear more from you because you touched them in some way that evoked a special emotion
• They want their friends to know that they like your organization (probably because they want their friends to have the same experience and “like” your organization too)

So what am I getting at?

I’m thinking that you might want to consider planned giving advertising that is targeted solely to your Facebook fans.  It’s hyper-targeted and inexpensive.

Sure… you may not get the gift for about 30 years.  But you’ll get it.

And, if you do your planned giving marketing right… they’ll tell you about their gift soon so you can steward them properly, prevent them from taking your organization out of their will, and, hopefully, get a chance to inspire them to increase the size of their gift.

Just cut out one planned giving newsletter and you’ll have enough of a budget to target your Facebook fans for the next few years.

Am I nuts?  Or did I just find the missing link?

The arguments against this kind of advertising are my own.

1. For starters.  Show me the money!  I think they need to make a gift of some sort in order to become planned giving prospects (although volunteers leave planned gifts even though they don’t necessarily make donations).
2. And, what about loyalty?  Have these “likers” already exhibited (or will they someday exhibit) long-term loyalty.
3. Plus, you may not see that gift for quite a while (although seniors make up the fastest growing segment of Facebook these days).

Facebook fans are exhibiting a high degree of affinity for your organization… publicly!  But is that enough?

I don’t know but I can tell you this:  Advertising on Facebook to your fans is pretty darn cheap.  And, if you don’t ask… you don’t get.  So I think it’s certainly worth a test.  I’ll try to get one of my clients to agree and I’ll let you know what happens.