Bequest giving has always been the cornerstone of planned giving programs. Research reveals that 90% of all planned gifts are bequests. Bequest giving is popular with donors because it is a gift of assets rather than income, which allows even moderate current donors to ultimately be major donors.

We now live in a time when bequest giving is becoming increasingly significant due to changing demographics. Researchers John J. Havens and Paul G. Schervish of Boston College have predicted that at least $41 trillion in wealth will transfer from one generation to the next by 2052 in the largest intergenerational transfer of wealth ever seen. Havens and Schervish have also predicted that $6 trillion or more could go to the nonprofit sector as a direct result of the wealth transfer. However, for the most part, only those nonprofit organizations that are proactive today will reap the rewards of the wealth transfer tomorrow. To receive bequest gifts 20 years from now, nonprofit organizations must cultivate and solicit those gifts now.

The wealth transfer is not just a theory. We are currently witnessing the leading edge of this trend. During the five-year period of 2000-04, the amount of money donated through bequest gifts to charities increased by 27.1 percent over the previous five-year period of 1995-99, according to inflation-adjusted figures in Giving USA 2005.

The most common types of planned gifts closed by charities in the past four years were bequests and charitable gift annuities, which suggests a back-to-basics movement, according to a report cited by Giving USA 2005. The report was based on a survey of 29 leading national planned giving professionals conducted by Cynthia Krause, a planned gift consultant, and Betsy Mangone of the Denver Foundation. Those organizations that get back to basics to cultivate and solicit bequests will reap rewards in the coming years.

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