Planned giving is an often-overlooked strategy in newsroom fundraising, yet it may be one of the most powerful tools available to strengthen journalism for the long term.
“A planned gift is typically the largest gift a person can leave [in their lifetime], often six figures,” said Anna January, director of philanthropy at Wisconsin Watch.
Up to $124 trillion of wealth will be transferred over the next 25 years through legacy gifts, experts say. Many of these gifts will be mission-driven based on donors’ values, which can include supporting journalism and its impact on local communities.
LMA’s Lab for Journalism Funding recently convened fundraising experts for a webinar on Unlocking the Power of Planned Giving to explore how legacy gifts can help newsrooms build a philanthropic strategy for long-term sustainability while navigating financial uncertainty and aligning deeply with donor priorities.
The webinar is part of The Lab Link, which provides Lab for Journalism Funding alumni programming with support from the Knight Foundation. The session featured experts from FreeWill, an estate planning and planned giving solution, and fundraising leaders from Wisconsin Watch to help newsrooms understand what planned giving is, why it matters now and how teams of any size can begin building a legacy giving program.
What is planned giving?
Planned giving refers to charitable gifts made as part of a donor’s estate plan, most often realized after their death. These gifts are sometimes called bequests, legacy gifts, deferred gifts, estate gifts, gift commitments, gift intentions or beneficiary designations.They can be funded through a wide range of assets including cash, retirement accounts, donor-advised funds, life insurance policies, equity and property, explained Desirnai’ Hicks, a senior partner success strategist at FreeWill.
Planned gifts can be 200 to 300 times larger than an annual donation, according to research from GivingUSA.
Hicks said FreeWill routinely sees donors who gave $50 to $100 a year during their lifetime leave a six-figure gift in their estate because of how strongly they believed in the mission of an organization.
She emphasized that planned gifts are not reserved for wealthy donors. “Anyone can leave a charitable bequest,” she said. “And the earlier someone includes you in their estate plans, the more opportunity you have to steward that relationship over time.”
The Great Wealth Transfer: Once-in-a-lifetime philanthropy opportunity
Planned giving is particularly relevant at this moment, said Arif Nuri, enterprise account executive at FreeWill, because of The Great Wealth Transfer, which is the historic shift of wealth — estimated at $84 trillion to $124 trillion — expected over the next two decades as baby boomers pass assets to heirs and charities.
“We think about this as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for philanthropy,” said Nuri. The oldest baby boomers are turning 80 in 2026. “If you don’t act now, you likely will be missing out on the impact of what a realized bequest commitment can do.”
Newsrooms are particularly well positioned to take advantage of this moment, he added, because many have loyal, long-time audiences of readers and donors who skew older.
But don’t ignore younger audiences, said January and Emmett Liston, senior philanthropy officer at Wisconsin Watch. Those gifts may not be realized for decades, but you’re planting seeds and building lifelong relationships that can lead to transformational gifts, they explained.
Nuri added a compelling statistic. “Less than one out of 10 individuals will ever remove you from their estate plans once you’re documented in them,” he said. “This really emphasizes the need to steward your donors as well.”
The most common legacy giving tools
While planned giving can include many financial vehicles, speakers from FreeWill emphasized that most planned gifts fall into two categories: charitable bequests and beneficiary designations.
A charitable bequest is fairly simple for anyone to establish, according to Hicks, and is made through a will or trust and may be a fixed amount, a percentage of the estate, or a specific asset, like real estate or personal property. They always recommend percentage planned gifts when possible, she said. “Those have a tendency to be larger because if someone’s estate grows over time, so does the amount of their gift.”
Beneficiary designations allow donors to name a nonprofit on assets like retirement accounts, life insurance policies and donor-advised funds. This is good for individuals, Hicks said, “who want to make an impact on the organization but can’t do so now during their lifetime. They want to retain control of their assets.”
Charitable bequests and naming a newsroom as a beneficiary are two good options for planned gifts because they “can be done now, and they don’t cost any money to the donor at that particular time,” said Hicks. “They’re very easy to establish, and they can also be changed at any time, so it gives a lot of flexibility for donors.”
In addition, Hicks said that these kinds of gifts are “a great way for a person to make an enduring impact on your mission.”
How to start a planned giving program: Ask, educate, identify & market
For organizations new to planned giving, speakers urged simplicity and consistency when communicating with your audience.
“Many donors don’t know they can include your organization in their will, so education alone can unlock opportunity,” said Nuri. As with any fundraising strategy, asking your community to participate as donors is one of the first steps. According to Nuri, “the No. 1 tried-and-true rule in this space is, ‘if you don’t ask, you’re not going to receive.’”
He also stressed the importance of digital readiness. Your website doesn’t need to be fancy, but having “a modern, clean, warm and friendly ‘Ways to Give’ page with basic planned giving information and contact information makes a big difference.”
When identifying your planned gift prospects, start with who is already giving to you. “That is a really strong signal of someone who has a high affinity and high association with your organization’s mission and would likely welcome a planned giving conversation,” Nuri said. Those who have a higher tendency to leave legacy gifts include females, those with higher education and those without children or who are single, divorced or widowed.
Finally, implementing multimedia marketing campaigns — including leveraging events like National Make-A-Will Month in August — is key for educating donors.
Lessons from Wisconsin Watch newsroom: Starting small can lead to big impact
Wisconsin Watch shared how even small steps can generate meaningful results. Drawing on their public media experience as well as their current roles, January and Liston outlined practical ways to build a pipeline of prospects with basic tools.
One of the easiest and most effective strategies they implemented was adding simple planned giving questions to their annual member surveys. “You’d be surprised how many people respond to that,” Liston said. January said it helped uncover dozens of legacy prospects.
Simple digital survey forms can be a surprisingly effective way to gather that information, according to Liston. He also emphasized the importance of developing a gift acceptance policy with your fiscal sponsor and creating sample bequest language.
Liston said that “90 percent of inquiries that you will get when you’re starting a planned giving program” are simple questions like: What do I need to do to include you in my will or my estate plans? Put this information at the top of your planned giving website page so it’s easy to find, Liston recommended.
Stewardship and recognition matter
Both organizations stressed that stewardship over a donor’s lifetime is essential once a donor signals legacy intent because planned giving is a long-term strategy.
“This is already a warm audience,” said January. “It is really great to code in your database, and then touch base with those people, maybe once or twice annually. It often takes people many years to settle their plans.” But if you’re not communicating, you risk falling out of their priorities.
Legacy societies, donor recognition and nonbinding letters of intent all help reinforce commitment and relationships, the speakers said. Continuity is key because people change roles, organizations evolve and documentation ensures donor intent is honored.
Long-term strategy: Start building now
Planned giving alone is not a solution by itself, but it can be a significant pillar in an overall philanthropic fundraising strategy to support local journalism.
While it isn’t a silver bullet, it can be one of the most meaningful gifts your newsroom will ever receive, and now is the time to start with The Great Wealth Transfer underway.
For newsrooms seeking sustainability and longevity, legacy giving offers stability rooted in relationships, values and lasting impact.
For more information
Watch the full webinar on planned giving, including a discussion of specific ways that for-profit newsrooms can also participate in this opportunity here (Passcode: URj8*y&F).
Editor’s note: Artificial intelligence was used to help the author summarize takeaways from the webinar. Any writing generated by AI for this piece was edited and fact-checked by a human. The featured image was also generated by artificial intelligence with a prompt to create an image of an older person with a thought bubble over their head showing the word “legacy” and multiple people, plus a newspaper.
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