According to Forbes Health, in a survey conducted in October of 2023, 48% of Americans with a 2024 New Year’s resolution planned to improve their fitness. Most resolutions, unfortunately, last just two to three months.

For those who know me best, a commitment to exercise has never been part of my identity. However, I can honestly say that I am entering 2024 having consistently exercised five times per week for the last twelve months. It’s an amazing feeling not to have to make a resolution to exercise but instead to maintain what I am already doing. In fact, I was feeling so good, I participated in a New Year’s Day plunge in 51-degree water!

Now think how you would feel if you applied the same commitment to your planned giving program. Instead of rolling over “resolve to focus on planned giving” from your 2023 “to-do” list to your 2024 “to-do” list, you are instead planning your second annual donor event, enhancing your donor relations strategy, devising new stewardship tactics, enhancing content for your outreach calendar and so much more! Kudos to those of you who are continuing the planned giving program you initiated in 2023. You’ve seen that the time commitment has paid off!

For those of you who have not yet started in earnest, now is the time to begin so you can reflect a year from now on how far you have come.

Remember, the best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago, the second-best time is now.

Julie Schuldner, MBA, CFRE®, is a senior consultant for Sharpe Group.

Get started on 2025 now by having a Sharpe Planned Giving Program Assessment.