Episode Overview
You run a small nonprofit, the grant report is due Friday, and planned giving sits near the bottom of the list, filed under things only hospitals and universities do. To Tony Martignetti, that instinct is the problem. On this episode of Nonprofit 2.0, he tells host Cherry Yang that a small or mid-size nonprofit can launch planned giving in a week, with no website and no budget, just by talking to the donors who already love the work.
Key Takeaways
Planned giving is within reach for small nonprofits, and it can start with one conversation this week.
- Start with your most loyal donors. Tony Martignetti says your best planned giving prospects are the people who have given consistently for years, not your largest one-time givers.
- Lead with gifts in wills. They account for roughly three-quarters of planned gifts because nearly everyone already understands how a will works.
- Treat it as a conversation about the mission’s future. Tony frames the ask around the longevity of the work the donor already supports.
- Begin around age 55. That is when many donors start thinking about their estate, though Tony notes you can query on giving history alone if you have no ages.
- Four prospects is enough to launch. A small shop does not need dozens of names to start having real conversations.
- Follow up, always. Tony warns that a request left to go quiet tells a donor their gift did not matter.
Episode Highlights
1. The Three-Step, One-Week Launch
Tony Martignetti built his whole method to remove the excuses that stop small nonprofits from starting. His three-step, one-week planned giving launch is the opposite of a big institutional program. Step one, identify your top prospects, the donors who have given loyally and consistently over the years. Step two, start with gifts in wills, the simplest and most common planned gift. Step three, begin cultivating and soliciting those prospects.
The reason it takes a week and not a year is that none of it depends on infrastructure. Tony is blunt that you do not need a website, a campaign, or a splashy press release. You need a short list of loyal donors and a willingness to talk to them. As he puts it, you are launching planned giving the moment you start having those conversations. For a leader who assumed this was a multi-year build, that shift is what gets them off the fence.
2. Why It Is Not About Death
Tony Martignetti knows the objection before it is spoken: talking about a gift in a will means talking about someone dying. He turns that completely around. The conversation, he says, is about the life, longevity, and sustainability of the nonprofit’s work, and how much that work matters to the community.
That framing matters because the people being asked are long-term, committed donors who already care about the mission. Tony argues they are ready to have this conversation, because it is really about making sure the work they love continues. He even suggests holding it over a meal, using what he calls the Martignetti Meal Plan, because the natural rhythm of a shared table, the ordering, the pauses, the eating, gives the ask room to breathe. The point is a mindset that treats the request as a positive act, tied to the future of the cause rather than the end of a life.
3. Four Donors Is Enough
Tony Martignetti wants small nonprofits to stop waiting until they feel big enough. If an organization identifies only four strong planned giving prospects, he says, that is four more than it had before, and a fine place to start. A small shop does not have the bandwidth for 25 top prospects anyway, so he tells leaders to work the three or four they have.
He pairs that permission with two simple criteria for readiness. The nonprofit should have been around at least five years, because donors need to believe the work will outlast them before they name it in a will. And it needs a base of individual donors, not only grants or fee-for-service revenue, because those individuals are the prospect pool. A couple of hundred donors is plenty to surface a few loyal names. Tony’s message throughout is that planned giving is accessible and affordable for exactly the organizations that assume it is not.
FAQ
What is planned giving for a small nonprofit?
Planned giving is a long-term gift a donor commits to now that is realized later, usually through a gift in a will. Tony Martignetti says small and mid-size nonprofits can pursue it just as well as large institutions, starting with their most loyal donors.
How does a nonprofit start planned giving with no budget?
Tony Martignetti recommends a three-step, one-week launch: list your most loyal donors, focus on gifts in wills, and start conversations. He stresses that you need no website, campaign, or press release, only real relationships with committed donors.
When is an organization ready to ask donors for gifts in wills?
Tony Martignetti suggests two markers: the nonprofit has existed at least five years, so donors trust the work will continue, and it has a base of individual donors rather than only grants. Even four strong prospects is enough to begin.
Tools and Resources
- Tony Martignetti Nonprofit Radio: Tony’s podcast, Big Nonprofit Ideas for the Other 95%, where he covers planned giving and much more.
- Free data health check: A quick way to see whether your donor database can surface the loyal, long-term givers Tony says to start with.
- Planned Giving Accelerated: Tony’s book laying out the three-step, one-week launch.
How to Apply This
- Pull your loyal donors. In your database, list the people who have given consistently over several years and are still current, not lapsed. If you track age, start with donors around 55 and up. If you do not, giving history alone is enough.
- Pick three or four names. You do not need a big list. Choose the prospects with the strongest relationship to your organization, the ones who reliably answer your emails and take your calls.
- Open one conversation. Reach out to a single donor, thank them for their years of support, and ask whether they would consider including your nonprofit in their will. Then listen, and follow up when you said you would, so the request never goes quiet.
About Tony Martignetti
Tony Martignetti has served the gift planning needs of nonprofits since 1997 and began consulting as Martignetti Planned Giving Advisors, LLC in 2003. He is a speaker, a video blogger, and the host of Tony Martignetti Nonprofit Radio, a long-running show he bills as Big Nonprofit Ideas for the Other 95%. His book, Planned Giving Accelerated, lays out his three-step method for small and mid-size organizations. You can find it at PlannedGivingAccelerated.com.
Next Steps
The full conversation with Tony Martignetti is at the top of this post, and it is worth the listen if planned giving has felt out of reach. When you are ready to act on his first step, it helps to know your donor data can actually find those loyal, long-term givers. Claribase’s free data health check is a low-key way to check. Take a look whenever it is useful.
