Will contributions or planned gifts have a significant impact on charity organizations? Giving USA showed that 41% of contributors first learn about legacy giving through the marketing efforts of charitable organizations. Social media can be an efficient approach to reaching your target donors, in addition to in-person visits and emails, traditionally the most common marketing outreach method.

80% of Americans use social media regularly and want to donate online. In light of this, social media is a crucial and often-overlooked tool for educating donors on legacy donations. With the correct social strategy, you may expand your organization's pool of potential planned giving donors and increase donations.

However, for your social advertisements and posts to be effective, you must make it simple for donors to create a will and leave a generous bequest to your organization.

Although there are a variety of social channels from which to choose, Facebook will likely be your best option for educating supporters and encouraging scheduled giving. This is why:

Ideal Demographic: Since 2018, the fastest-growing demographic on Facebook has been individuals over 65. And the older your donors are, the more likely they will contemplate leaving a legacy to your organization. This age group is most likely to leave the largest bequests in their wills. Since Facebook enables you to target extremely targeted demographics beyond your existing followers, you can ensure that your message reaches your perfect planned giving prospects.

Ideal engagement: Facebook is designed for engagement and dialogue, unlike direct mail, email, or your website. As content is "liked" and "shared," it appears on the accounts of other users without the involvement of your organization and social team. If your organization excels at fostering positive interaction, this can serve as social proof and demonstrate to donors that legacies are an effective type of giving.

Here are our top five methods for educating your supporters and acquiring new legacy contributors via Facebook:

1- Promote your Facebook posts to increase their reach.

Boosting your Facebook posts, which essentially convert your organic posts into advertisements, is a powerful method of expanding your reach beyond your present following. To "boost" a Facebook post, select a post from your page, click "boost post," and then fill out the ad's information. This includes your advertising budget, your target audience, and the length of time you want your ad to appear (duration).

The most significant aspect is that you may select your audience based on various factors, including region, areas of interest, age, gender, and more - and they do not have to be your present followers. This implies that you may establish a bespoke audience for your ideal planned giving prospects and extend your reach beyond your existing followers.

Do not recreate the wheel when determining how to target your posts and ads. Utilize the demographic data of donors who have already provided planned gifts to your organization. This allows you to target donors who are:

• Have generous giving potential
• are comparable to those who have pledged to leave a legacy

This guarantees that your material is effective and resonates with those most likely to leave a legacy for your organization.

In addition to desktop or mobile news feeds, right-side columns, Facebook articles, and Facebook Marketplace boosting provides placement possibilities. Additionally, because Facebook owns Instagram, you can choose a placement in Instagram Stories, and desktop or mobile feeds. This enables you to contact users in many locations through a single platform, increasing the likelihood that they will interact with your organization and content.

2. Utilize social proof to engage prospective funders.

When a donor decides to donate, their decision is frequently impacted by social conventions or the number of other donors.

According to a recent Nielsen study, 84% of Americans believe suggestions and content from close friends and family. By sharing examples of other donors who have made planned gifts in your Facebook postings, you can utilize social proof to persuade future donors to give.

You can add social evidence to your Facebook content by:

• Altering the language of your CTAS. Consider naming your buttons and clickable posts with a phrase other than "Donate Now" instead of "Donate Now." For example: "Join the community of more than 5,000 donors."
• Featuring a giver with a planned gift. Share the tale of one of your devoted donors or planned-giving contributors. The city of Hope is a wonderful illustration of this. They effectively utilized social proof by recording a video of a planned giving contributor expressing his story. This prompted supporters to leave personal messages of encouragement on the post, earning 225 likes and 20 comments.

3. Create video content to promote more interaction.

Video is a highly powerful media on Facebook, with an average of eight billion daily views. If possible, you should develop Facebook video posts or advertisements to increase engagement rates.

The goal is to maintain brevity in your videos. According to SproutSocial, the optimal length for interactive films is between 60 and 90 seconds. A brief video from your team describing your goal or highlighting a legacy donor story is all you need to establish social proof, educate donors, and drive visitors to the page for your legacy organization.

4. Don't disregard younger donors.

Even while they are less likely to create wills now, people aged 18 to 34 are still the largest group on Facebook. It would be irresponsible to fully disregard them while developing material and advertisements to educate your fans.

Although planned giving officers have traditionally focused their efforts and resources on middle-aged and older donors, donors between 18 and 24 are by far the most likely to leave a legacy. Even though the value of their gifts is typically substantially lower than that of other age groups and the fulfillment of their gifts occurs in the far future, it is evident that they wish to help causes they care about. For NGOs, they present a low-cost chance to attract interest in donating, which is anticipated to stimulate fundraising growth not only in the next decades but also in the present.

5. Avoid using technical terms.

The key to increasing Facebook engagement is encouraging consumers to share your content with their social networks. Because just 37% of persons over 30 are aware of the term "planned to give," it is essential to utilize simple terminology. Internally, your nonprofit organization may use jargon concerning scheduled contributions. Instead, phrase communications about making legacy contributions, such as "make a gift in your will" or "build a legacy."

During National Estate Planning Awareness Week in October, the YMCA of Delaware issued the following Facebook post.

By omitting "bequest" and "planned gift" from this post, they maintained the language's clarity and brevity by sticking with "create a will." In addition, they underlined how quick and simple it is to create a will online and support organizations that are important to you. This short post was direct and effective, resulting in three donations totaling over $47,000.