Sharpe Insights Articles

You Are Doing Everything Right, But … As planned gift fundraisers trying to meet or exceed goals, the focus is often on securing gift intentions. But that’s just part of your role. An important and challenging duty is bringing your donor’s intentions to actuality when they have passed away so their legacy gift objectives can …Read More

…And Many, Many More We hope you have enjoyed a glimpse of Sharpe Group milestones as much as we have. From our founding in 1963 to today, those of us at Sharpe are grateful and honored to serve the nonprofit community. Did we miss one of your favorite memories? If so, we’d love to hear …Read More

One of the most beneficial tools Sharpe Group offers is helping our clients maintain up-to-date donor information. Years of extensive and detailed data studies contained in the Sharpe KnowledgeBase® have shown us that 20% of donor information changes each year. Is your donor data up to date? As I see it, failure to maintain current …Read More

While sometimes it’s tempting to create brand-new resolutions at the beginning of the New Year, most of the time it’s best to resolve to improve on a practice or habit you already have in place. For 2024, our recommendation is to make your planned giving website the best it can be. Here are some simple …Read More

As someone who loves to cook, I often spend hours trying a new recipe. The time spent in the kitchen is well worth it because of my enjoyment of not only the process but also the outcome. There are instances, however, when I either don’t have the time or the expertise to produce a certain …Read More

If there’s one thing that’s certain about the future, it’s that we simply don’t know how the economy will perform in 2024. While some experts suggest we are headed for a recession, others are predicting resilience in the short term. At this point, the smartest approach to take may be “plan for the worst and …Read More

I would like to see every small development department initiate a strategy to solicit planned gifts from their donors. In the era of the intergenerational wealth transfer, a planned giving program must be given urgent priority status! If you are not marketing planned giving to your donors, you can count on the fact that your …Read More

Over the last 12 months, my clients have shared their planned giving concerns about continued economic challenges. Current giving has declined as the stock market struggles and inflation has increased. Higher education especially faces the unique challenge of how to provide the best education in the decades ahead at an affordable price for all students. …Read More

Why do people give? When do people give? We can talk about the stock market, tax rates, various giving vehicles, but the answer is … People give because they are asked. Relationship building is one of the best aspects of a fundraiser’s job. Keeping up with your donors and their passions is at the heart …Read More

Origin Story The original use of the term “blended gifts” can be found in a presentation Robert Sharpe Jr. made at the Partners in Philanthropic Giving national conference in Anaheim in 1995. As the focal point of the presentation entitled “How Will the Baby Boomers Boom?”, he noted that the first baby boomers were approaching …Read More