We’re thrilled to welcome Michael Bittel to Ask a Responsive Fundraiser. Michael is the Director of Fundraising and Development at TechBridge and the VP of Nonprofit Success at LifeLegacy. He brings decades of expertise in fundraising for major gifts and planned giving to development leadership. Michael helps nonprofits craft legacies that honor donor values and drive missions forward, offering practical strategies that deliver long-term results.
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Editor’s note: Michael’s answers were edited for length and clarity. Watch the video to see his complete answers.
Dear Responsive Fundraiser: With so much focus on annual giving campaigns, we’re worried that planned giving donors might feel overlooked. So, how can we ensure they receive meaningful recognition without taking resources away from other programs?
Michael Bittel: I am a huge proponent of treating planned giving donors like major donors. They are making the same kind of commitment to our organization that a major donor is doing. So, we treat them the same way. We communicate with them frequently and talk to them about what our organization is doing.
That kind of treatment helps them not get lost in the shuffle because the average plan gift is much larger than an annual gift and many times larger than a major gift. Treating them the same way and valuing that level of commitment to your organization goes a long way towards them not being lost in the shuffle.
Meaningful resources are not being used because you’re doing exactly the same thing you’re doing with your major donors. So you’re adding a few people to the mix, but you’re using your resources even better.
Dear Responsive Fundraiser: With our donor records inconsistent, we’re worried that we might miss key planned giving opportunities because of the inconsistency. How can we clean and enhance our database to better identify and engage potential legacy donors?
MB: I’ve always believed that your database is the lifeblood of your organization. I started my career as a database manager, and I remember one of the funniest moments of my career when one of my VPs came to me at a healthcare institution and said, “Michael, you’re a database manager, but you actually have a personality.”
I don’t know if that was a compliment or not, but I understand the value of data. Having data in really good shape helps you use your resources effectively. I believe the first step in cleaning your data is making sure you have good data, especially for your major planned annual donors.
Studies have shown that if you misspell someone’s name, it significantly decreases the amount you will receive from that person. Cleaning up names, addresses, addressees, and salutations go a long way to making sure you’re communicating with the person the way they want because if you cannot personalize communication, it falls flat and it’s static.
The next step for me is to collect data every single time you get it. If you’re having an event, have something there where you can collect data. If you’re doing a donor survey, put in a couple of demographic questions just to make sure. Anytime a gift officer talks to someone, make sure they have it in their brain to check the data in your database.
The better data you have, the easier it is to target the people that you’re looking for.
The more data you have, the more you’re going to be able to build some models saying this is what our major donors look like. They live in this zip code. They give this many times in 10 years. They have spouses who are engaged with us.
What does that look like? How do we reach out about that? That model also informs all the writing you do with emails and social media, because you’re going to write to that person because they’re the ones that are most likely to give to your organization. So you have that person in mind, write to them.
Ask a Responsive Fundraiser: Estate planning seems complex and overwhelming. Because of this, we’re nervous about introducing it to our fundraising strategy. How can we simplify the process for donors and show them the benefit of including us in their plans?
MB: Estate planning is a process of understanding what you do know and what you don’t know. So, we can have that discussion of legacy and who that person is and what is valuable to them. So, when you have that discussion, connecting a tool like your Virtuous database with LifeLegacy’s The Giving Suite in order to have those tools that are in your toolbox to make life easy really goes a long way to helping that strategy.
As a child of the 80s, Schoolhouse Rock was a huge part of my life. Schoolhouse Rock always goes back to knowledge is power. The more you know, the better off you are.
