Approaching donors to support an endowment provides a unique opportunity to maximize their giving. At the Community Foundation of Utah, we believe that a simple conversation can spark generosity that lasts a lifetime.
By giving to an endowment, donors grow an initial donation into a gift that will sustain your organization and provide long-term support of your mission.
When fundraising for an endowment, conversations with donors are often somewhat different than traditional fundraising conversations focused on operational and program support. If endowment conversations feel new to you, below are some talking points to support you in structuring these conversations with your donors.
Conversation Starters
Engage Donor Passion
- Your continued support has made a tremendous impact on our organization; we want to tell you how a gift today can make a difference today, tomorrow, and forever.
- What is your vision for the future of our work? Let’s talk about how we can create a legacy together.
- We have created an impact together [cite example]; let’s take this opportunity to explore how we can make this impact last longer.
- Is the sustainability of our work/mission important to you? Here is how you can contribute to the future of our organization.
Positioning Your Endowment
Cultivate Understanding
- We want to diversify our revenue so that your generosity can go further. When you give to our endowment, you sustain long term, consistent programmatic work.
- Our organization knows the importance of stability and sustainability. Giving to our endowment could cover the cost of our building, hire a new staff member, or create the foundation for a new program that makes lasting change.
- We are grateful that you would include us in your estate plan. Making your planned gift to our endowment would make your legacy last even longer.
- Making a planned gift to our endowment will ensure your legacy of {insert donor’s charitable interests} lasts forever.
Call To Action
Empower Your Donors
- We know this is a lot of information. Once you have looked at our follow-up materials let’s have another conversation to answer your questions.
- We are advancing our mission; you can be a part of it by giving through our fund portal with the Community Foundation of Utah.
- We understand if this isn’t the right time for you to give to our endowment. Let’s plan on coming back to this in a year to revisit your giving strategy to our organization.
- We understand if giving now isn’t the right time, let’s discuss the many ways to give through your estate to see if making a planned gift would be of interest to you.
