Where there's no will there's no way: charities are not in the final plans of a majority of Americans.

Charities marketing bequest giving are convincing just a fraction of potential donors of the opportunity. And those who are making provisions for family and charity in their wills are not among the oldest and wealthiest Americans.

Results of exclusive national research for The NonProfit Times conducted by Opinion Research, show that more than half of adult Americans either do not have a will or have not left money to charity if they do have one. Of those who have left money to a charity, it is most likely the person has an involvement with the organization, such as volunteering, rather than being solicited for a gift without a connection.

The nationally-projectable sample of adults shows opportunities for charities because a majority of Americans still have not made decisions regarding their wealth. In fact, the intergenerational transfer of wealth that charities have been expecting to provide a windfall as Baby Boomers retire is not being targeted to charities.

Wealth has a limited impact on wills and giving to charity in the study. No income level exceeded 50 percent for either having a will or making a provision for charity. Those at the $50,000 to $75,000 income level were more likely to have a will and/or made a provision for charity than their richer counterparts in the $75,000 or more income category at 49 percent versus 38 percent.

As for those who did make provision, 65 percent of those earning between $50,000 and $75,000 said that involvement helped push them to a gift.

When it came to making an online connection, it was more likely that the Internet helped to convince a black donor (16 percent) and Hispanic donor (15 percent) than a white donor, at just 7 percent. Black and Hispanic donors were also more likely to have the help of financial and legal advisors at 21 and 15 percent, respectively, as compared to white donors at 8 percent.

Hispanic donors were slightly more influenced by television and radio than black donors (19 percent vs. 17 percent) but still outpaced white donors at 10 percent.

Of those who said they have put charities in a will, Black and Hispanic donors outpaced white donors, at 65 percent, 62 percent and 50 percent respectively. Regionally, there was little difference in giving patterns.

When it comes to age, those who are in the 45- to 54-year-old group were more likely to have made charitable provisions than those who are 65 and older.

For those who said that they included charities in estate planning, they were most likely pushed there by involvement with the organization (53 percent), and by published materials from the charity (33 percent). There is some overlap, with many of those interviewed responding that there were multiple influences.

Representatives of charities meeting potential donors had limited success, with just 17 percent saying that a visit pushed them to put a charity in their will. That number plummets to just 8 percent when you include the people who said that they don't have a will or that they had not made a provision for charity.

The visit was least effective in the 55-64 and 65 and older age groups with just 9 percent and 14 percent, respectively, having made a provision for charity after a visit. A visit was most effective of those 18-24 but the sample size compared to other groups was relatively small.

The age groups most consistently planning estates and also including charity is the 45-54 age category.

Financial or legal advisors did not do much better when it comes to getting charity into wills. Just 23 percent of those interviewed said that such advice had moved them to make a place for charity.

Published materials from a charity did better than advisors, on average, helping to convince 33 percent of those who self-identified as planning to leave assets to charity. Radio and television spots registered success with just 26 percent and the Internet just 19 percent.

A college degree was not an indicator of potential giving, with 39 percent of degree-holders making provisions for a charity compared to 38 percent of those who had completed high school. The rate was 39 percent for those who had done some college work but dropped to just 17 percent for those who had not finished high school.

The numbers show that the marketing of bequest giving and various forms of planned giving, for the most part, is missing the mark. There are some nonprofits that are successfully marketing one planned giving tool, the gift annuity.

Andrew Rivers made the hour-long trip from The Franciscan Friars of Atonement in Garrison, N.Y., to the home of a prospective donor who had sent a letter indicating the charity would be in her will. The executive director of development, Rivers said that he was surprised to learn that two other charities didn't call the woman to follow up on her correspondence. She ended up giving her entire charitable contribution to the Friars--a tidy sum of about $4 million.

Planned gifts can sometimes account for a quarter to a third of a charity's annual contributions, yet other nonprofits receive little or no gift revenue from this source. Only about 1 in 100 prospects respond to planned giving solicitations, but it's the long-term gain that's significant, Rivers said.

And if the numbers are any indication, the potential market for planned giving probably will grow in the coming years.

Most planned gifts have come from the World War II generation and their predecessors, said Barlow Mann, chief operating officer for Memphis, Tenn.-based The Sharpe Group, a planned giving consulting firm. Over the next 20 years, some 70 million Baby Boomers will turn 60 and older, setting the stage for the much-anticipated generational transfer of wealth. If The NonProfit Times's survey numbers hold, that money will transition, but not to charity.

Mann cited statistics from Giving USA and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) that indicate a considerable rise in planned giving during the past 20 years. The value of bequests has more than doubled, from $4.77 billion in 1985 to $10.41 million in 1995. By 2005, bequests were valued to be $17.44 billion. Historically, planned gifts make up about 5 to 10 percent of all giving annually, he said.

There were more than 85,000 charitable remainder trusts (CRTs) in 1998, valued at $64 billion. As recently as 2004, that figure was up to $87 billion based on 115,849 trusts. A nonprofit receives money from a charitable remainder trust (CRT) upon the death of the donor, while with a charitable gift annuity (CGA) the organization receives the donation up front, but with an obligation to pay income to the donor.

The decision to offer planned gifts goes beyond just the planned giving department, as the organization as a whole is entering a contractual obligation, said Mann. A likely candidate for a planned giving program is an organization that's been around for 25 years or more, with a significant number of donors who are 70 and older, he said. "If people expect you [your organization] to be around another 25 years, they're more likely to entertain this kind of arrangement."

There are only about 4,000 charities that have an active planned giving program, Mann said. If 4,000 charities are offering gift annuities, at an average 15 a year, that's about 60,000 contracts annually, he said, as compared to probably less than 10,000 trusts. The most popular deferred gift arrangement is the simple bequest, Mann said, while in terms of split-interest gifts, the gift annuity is the most popular.

Franciscan Friars chooses planned giving prospects semiannually from its donor database. "If someone is on your file seven years or longer, that tells me they have a really strong affiliation with your charity," Rivers said. Traditionally, he wants someone 60 years old or older, if birth date information for a donor is available.

For the Friars program, the average length of time on file for a planned giving donor was 12.7 years in 2006, with the average gift of $8.65 and the average number of lifetime gifts 94. The charity has about 1,300 annuities, comprising about half of its planned gifts. Most of the rest come in the form of bequests (40 percent) and trusts (10 percent), Rivers said. Last year, the organization received 144 bequests with a total value of $4.1 million and an average value of $28,472.

A brochure describing annuities is mailed to potential donors, along with a letter and a response device. "If we don't hear from them in a couple weeks, we make a phone call asking if it was received, and if they have any questions about it, Rivers said. "If they respond, we do a personal visit.

"We've found that once there's enough interest to do a personal visit, talk to them; it may not happen that day, but a month or two down the road, they will fund that annuity," Rivers said. "The personal visit really shows true interest on the charity's part and in the donor's good will." It's why he and the organization's two other planned giving employees made 112 personal visits last year.

"We find the best prospects are single women, 65 and older," Rivers said. "Those are people who fund most of the planned gifts, as well as a lot of couples too."

The charity's minimum $1,000 annuity is a good tool to test the market--"It's really kind of a door-opener"--Rivers said. Donors tend to fund another annuity for a larger amount later, some going to $5,000 or $10,000. "The best prospect in the future is one who already has one."

Rivers said his organization traditionally mails about 50,000 annuity brochures, which typically generate a 0.5 to 1 percent response rate. "Last year was a banner year," he said, having closed annuities with a face value of almost $1 million.

In addition to the brochures, Rivers will send a back-end, tear-off piece about bequests and annuities on other mailings that's not as technical, but donors can request more information.

"If someone at 65 does one [an annuity], you're probably looking at 15 to 20 years that you're paying out," Rivers said. "You want to make sure you're prudently investing that, so when a person does die, the charity gets a significant amount."

The American Council on Gift Annuities recommends that nonprofits should receive approximately 50 percent of the gift, but Rivers said an organization's investment policies really dictate that. "If you're aggressive on the investment side, you can do better."

Marketing is similar for trusts, Rivers said, targeting donors who have shown an affinity for the organization for a number of years. Franciscan Friars mails about half as many brochures on trusts (15,000 to 20,000) as annuities, Rivers said, with cost coming into to play somewhat.

As with many other charities, bequests outnumber other kinds of planned gifts at the American Red Cross, by 4-to-1 according to Rebecca Locke, director of gift planning. "It's still our bread and butter; where we put a lot of marketing focus. Many of our donors might not see themselves able to do a more sophisticated gift, or perhaps are in a position where they continue to need income or have cash available to them but do want to do something," she said.

The Red Cross has a relatively young planned giving program at the national level, with only a few people in headquarters working with thousands of chapters prior to 1997. The organization decided to try funding six planned giving officers in the field to work directly with chapters. "It's a little bit different kind of a model than anyone used before," Locke said. After two years, they found it worked well and now there are 22 planned giving officers in the field, she said, with plans to add more next year. ARC generates about $60 million to $70 million annually in planned giving.

"The best route is to market to donors who clearly support us, have had many, many years with us," Locke said. "It proves to be our best opportunity to talk to people who care about us, our mission and want to support us into the future; that's our best market." The number of years and frequency of a donor is more of an indicator than how much a donor has contributed, she added.

"We market particularly for gift annuities almost exclusively in the older ages in our file," Locke said, those at least in their mid to late 60s. If the donor's age is not known, ARC will take a look at how long they've been giving to the organization, with those giving a dozen or more times "certainly an indication of interest that we would market to them."

A gift annuity mailing might go out six times a year, with about 250,000 to 300,000 pieces, Locke said. A younger segment is targeted for bequest mailings, and this year they've dipped to donors in their mid-50s "because we want to talk to Baby Boomers."

Response rates vary from less than 1 percent, up to 7 to 8 percent in some cases, Locke said. One mailing in particular had a special focus. Donors who had given at least 12 gifts were sent a letter featuring a handwritten font indicating the nonprofit's appreciation and setting up a face-to-face meeting where they would receive a Red Cross pin. "We decided because they have given to us for so long, so many times, we wanted to say thank you very mildly and very clearly," she said.

The mailing yielded a 7 to 12 percent response rate, Locke said. "We had people crying. It's one of the best things we've ever done.

"It was not a premium. We were really serious about this. People got that. We wanted to make sure they were thanked and a sense of that came through in the letter we wrote," Locke said.

Personalization is the name of the game, especially when technology is always advancing. "What we're seeing a little bit more is use of direct mail that has a personalized approach that can put a donor's payout rate and charitable deduction in the letters," said Gary Pforzheimer, president of PG Calc, Inc., a planned giving software company in Cambridge, Mass. "Fifteen years ago it was really cool to not say 'Dear sir or madam,'" he added, and rather than send donors an entire table of gift annuity rates, nonprofits can personalize the mailing even more, indicating the potential rate and gift at the current time.

In another mailing, the Red Cross offers donors a will kit. "We're so committed to the idea that everyone needs a plan," Locke said. "Organizing to make that plan is sometimes the most daunting step. [The kit] helps people organize themselves behind what they have and what they need to take care of in a will."

The will kit offering is mailed to about 300,000 donors in their 60s, and testing going as young as the mid-50s. The response rate has been 2 to 3 percent, Locke said, and those targeted have given fewer gifts historically, maybe as few as three or four.

While the ARC never found much success in advertisements for planned giving, the opposite is true for the UJA-Federation of New York. The 90-year-old organization tested print advertising during the mid-1990s after strategic planning recognized "the importance back then that this was not quite the mature industry it has become now," said Charles Goldman, group vice president for planned giving and endowments. "The opportunity was seen by UJA to have their name stand out in the marketplace through advertising."

UJA-Federation, which covers an eight-county area in and around New York City and Long Island, has a planned giving staff of 19 and last year raised about $47 million through planned giving and endowments. About half that figure was from bequests.

While experimenting in local Jewish and secular press, as well as professional journals, UJA-Federation also learned that no matter where they advertised, the greatest number of responses by far came from The New York Times ads, Goldman said. UJA all but stopped advertising anywhere else, except to test specialized publications, such as a teachers' union newspaper that recently yielded a gift. One gift can confirm a hunch that it's a fruitful place to advertise, he said.

UJA-Federation continues to advertise in The Times, using a combination of print as well as online advertising, where they can target specific Web pages read by readers 65 and older. But the organization also spends plenty of resources on direct mail aimed at its donor database, sorting by ZIP code or household income information, Goldman said. While an outside agency works with the nonprofit on the advertising side, much of the direct mail and brochures are done in-house.

Direct mail reaches tens of thousands of donors each year in a series of mailings, sometimes to coincide with tax season or end-of-year tax planning, Goldman said. The year-end mailings result in more inquires than those that go out in the spring, he added.

Regardless of the size or location of a charity, current and past donors are universally considered the best place to start with any planned giving program, such as older donors or those that the organization has served. Said Mann: "That's really where the marketing and advertising goes on."

Exclusive NPT Research

Question: If you have decided to include a charity in
your will, which of the following was the decision based on?

Age                   18-24   25-34   35-44   45-54   55-64   65+

Involvement with      56%     70%     61%     61%     47%     32%
organizations, such
as volunteering

Published             12%     35%     34%     42%     32%     32%
materials from
the charity

Radio or TV           43%     33%     24%     31%     20%     20%

Financial or          12%     26%     25%     26%     23%     21%
legal advisors

Internet              59%     28%     18%     22%     7%      11%

Visits from           23%     20%     20%     21%     9%      14%
representatives
of the charity

Note: Columns will not equate to 100% due to multiple answers.

Exclusive NPT Research

Question: If you have decided to include a charity in
your will, which of the following was the decision based on?

                             $25K-   $35K-   $50K-   $75K    Dual
Household              LT     LT      LT      LT      Or    Income
Income                $25K   $35K    $50K    $75K    More    H.H.

Involvement with      40%     36%     54%     65%    61%     50%
organizations, such
as volunteering

Published             37%     23%     31%     37%    37%     35%
materials from
the charity

Radio or TV           44%     21%     32%     23%    24%     29%

Financial or          26%     18%     13%     26%    25%     23%
legal advisors

Internet              21%     16%     20%     20%    21%     18%

Visits from           16%     10%     17%     21%    20%     15%
representatives
of the charity

Exclusive NPT Research

Question: If you have decided to include a
charity in your will, which of the
following was the decision based on?

                          White          Black        Hispanic
Race                       only           only          Only
                        (Non-Hisp)     (Non-Hisp)

Involvement with           50%            65%           62%
organizations, such
as volunteering

Published                  30%            56%           33%
materials from
the charity

Radio or TV                22%            32%           36%

Financial or               18%            39%           29%
legal advisors

Internet                   15%            31%           30%

Visits from                14%            21%           31%
representatives
of the charity