If you work in major gifts, you already know the difference between activity and outcomes.
A discovery call isn’t a gift. A good meeting isn’t revenue. A prospect who says “I love your mission” isn’t a closed commitment. You track what matters: proposals submitted, gifts closed, dollars in the door.
So why does planned giving get a pass?
The Dashboard Illusion
Across the sector, planned giving programs report bequest intentions like they’re wins. A donor fills out a form. Their name goes in a database. The dashboard ticks up. Everyone celebrates.
But here’s what nobody asks: how many of those intentions will ever become gifts?
The honest answer is uncomfortable.
The Leakage Problem
Bequest intentions aren’t legally binding. They’re a donor saying, “I plan to include you in my will.” Plans change.
Donors update their wills after major life events — divorce, family conflict, a bad experience with your organization, or simply a change of heart. Some live another 30 years and forget they ever filled out that form. Some die with estates smaller than expected. Some have families who contest the gift.
Conservative estimates suggest 50-60% of stated intentions never materialize as actual gifts. The vendors selling intention-tracking software don’t advertise this. Their dashboards count additions. They never count revocations.
Why This Matters for Major Gift Officers
If you’re in major gifts, planned giving isn’t a separate silo — it’s your pipeline’s long tail. The donors you’re cultivating today are the same donors who might include your organization in their estate plans. The question is whether anyone is converting those intentions into something real.
Most planned giving “programs” aren’t doing this. They’re collecting names and hoping for the best. They’re treating a form completion as the finish line when it’s actually the starting gate.
That’s where you come in.
The Relationship Advantage
Major gift officers have something planned giving software can never replicate: actual relationships with donors.
You know their families. You know their motivations. You know when something’s changed. You can pick up the phone and have a real conversation — not send an automated stewardship sequence.
When a planned giving program is built on relationships instead of dashboards, bequest intentions actually convert. Donors feel known. They stay committed. They don’t quietly remove your organization from their will because nobody’s talked to them in three years.
What To Ask Your Planned Giving Colleagues
If your organization has a planned giving program, ask these questions:
- How many documented, legally confirmed planned gifts do we have — not intentions, actual commitments?
- What’s our conversion rate from stated intention to closed gift?
- How many legacy society members have we actually spoken to in the last 12 months?
- Do we know when donors update their estate plans?
- What happens after someone fills out the intention form?
If the answers are vague, you’ve found the gap. Intentions are being collected. Relationships aren’t being built. Gifts aren’t being closed.
The Bottom Line
You can’t bank intentions. They’re not revenue. They’re not commitments. They’re a starting point — and most organizations treat them like a finish line.
Major gift officers understand this instinctively. You don’t confuse activity with outcomes. The question is whether your planned giving program does.
