As you begin to shape your legacy gifts program, take heart! It is not as complex or overwhelming as it may at first seem. While there are many types of planned gifts, the nuts and bolts of legacy giving are very much the same as annual and campaign fundraising:
It’s all about mission, vision, and asking for the gift.
You don’t need to become a professional charitable gift planner to build a successful planned giving program in your congregation – and you don’t need to do it alone. The Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations (UUA) has resources to help you along the way. Our professional staff is here to help Unitarian Universalists make meaningful gifts for the future of our liberal religion. If a donor wishes to provide for their own congregation, we will help them do just that. If donors wish to support two or more UU entities via a planned gift, we will help them do that, too. We call it umbrella giving.
This guide is an overview of the practical — more than the technical — side of planned giving. For bequests and other types of planned gifts the UUA Legacy Gifts staff has the experience and expertise to help individuals complete gifts that fulfill their wishes to make a difference in Unitarian Universalism’s future.
This guide will help you:
- plan and conduct your legacy giving campaign, so that you and others in your congregation can start soliciting gifts.
- focus your planned giving program on creating a culture of legacy giving, of cultivating gratitude for all who sustain your community, and on asking individuals to give.
- see yourself as a donor advocate, helping UUs find ways to be generous.
As your partner in planned giving, the UUA Legacy Gifts staff strives to provide professional, timely, and reliable service and information.
In addition to this guide, we offer a number of resources, in print, by phone, legacy@uua.org, and the UUA Legacy Giving website.
Plan Your Congregation’s Legacy Gifts Program
Legacy GivingA Guide for UU Congregations
This guide will help you plan and conduct your legacy giving campaign, so that you and others in your congregation can start soliciting gifts. You will succeed if you focus your planned giving program on creating a culture of legacy giving, of cultivating gratitude for all who sustain your community, and on asking individuals to give. See yourself as a donor advocate, helping UUs find ways to be generous.