Lorri Greif
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Lorri M. Greif, CFRE, president of Breakthrough Philanthropy, Inc., has more than two decades of experience in the nonprofit community focused on creating and implementing successful planned giving and major gifts campaigns for local and national nonprofits. She has the experience of a seasoned nonprofit fundraiser coupled with the knowledge of a professional consultant.
Her many years of strategic thinking, fundraising know-how, and donor cultivation and stewardship, are now a key resource addressing the needs of Breakthrough Philanthropy's clients, mostly mid-sized to larger nonprofits.
Lorri has a unique skill for building or re-working fundraising campaigns from "the ground up." As the first Chief Development Professional for HIAS, Inc., a 120+ year immigration rescue agency, she created a major gift and planned giving program while accelerating their annual campaign. She changed the organization's fundraising culture by providing extensive training to other professionals and board members about the importance of individual giving versus dependence on government funding. She also created national marketing strategies, defined gift acceptance guidelines for the agency, oversaw adherence to IRS and government regulations, and more.
Lorri was also the National Director of Planned Giving for Women's American ORT (now ORT America, Inc.), a 100+ year-old nonprofit organization, which provides funding for vocational training and re-training worldwide. In addition to directing the program, she created and implemented a national marketing campaign for planned giving that helped to bring participation in the planned giving society to more than 1,000 members. She also helped to create the organization's Diamond Ladder campaign, which brings in millions of dollars in new and increased major gifts.
Additionally, Lorri helped to create or reinvigorate planned giving campaigns for such organizations as the Police Athletic League, Inc. (PAL), Friends of the IDF, YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation, and the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (NCADD), to name just a few.
Lorri proudly serves on the board of Women in Development (WID). She is also a member of the Planned Giving Group of Greater New York (PGGGNY), the National Council on Planned Giving (NCPG), the American Council on Gift Annuities (ACGA), and more! Contact Lorri at info@breakthroughphilanthropy.com.
Recent Activity
Planned gifts are very often the largest contribution a donor ever makes. Yet sometimes it takes some convincing to get resources allocated to this type of campaign and if belt tightening becomes an issue for a nonprofit, this is an area that generally gets cut back first.
The most difficult part of bequest campaigns, in my opinion, is getting people to let you know once they've taken the necessary steps. It's believed only about 1/3 of the people who make testamentary gifts will self-identify in advance.
I believe that being able to ask for guidance or assistance is highly professional in almost any field and actually shows true confidence and competence. After all, nobody knows everything!
Too late - it can't be taken back! And letters don't hold the weight that articles with headlines do. Even if there's eventually an apology or correction, the damage has been done, and sadly it hurts charitable gift annuity prospects even more than the charities, although both may feel the impact.
As I've often said, individuals ("heartfelt" donors as I like to call them) as opposed to institutional givers are the ones who come through with donations in good times and bad. Therefore, I encourage charities that do not currently make a concerted effort to cultivate and solicit gifts from individuals to look at their reasons for not pursuing this avenue.
Just to refresh everyone's memory, in August 2006, then President Bush signed the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA 2006), which gave individuals at least 70 1/2 years old the opportunity to make a charitable gift of up to $100,000 a year in 2006 and 2007 from their IRAs, as long as it went directly to a charity. The law was allowed to expire at the end of 2007. It was not reinstated as PPA 2008 until much later in that year. This article discusses the proposed legislation for 2009.
I think gifts of plain, vanilla - no scheme - permanent life insurance can actually make a terrific planned gift campaign! (And no, I don't sell insurance.) I always try to include an insurance campaign as a piece of a comprehensive planned giving program.
Now is always the best time to start a planned giving program. Don't fall victim to the "one day" mentality that paralyzes so many nonprofits. Take advantage of all the opportunities planned giving has to offer as soon as you can.
Fundraising campaigns don't have to be tricky and overly complicated. For those of you with a dormant planned giving program, a basic bequest campaign is a terrific way to attract much-needed attention.
If your nonprofit is primarily funded with gifts from people as opposed to institutions or the government, you are in better shape than you may think because you're getting what I call "heartfelt" gifts. Institutionalized giving and government budgets must adhere to the predetermined guidelines of boards and bureaucrats. But individual giving is motivated by the basics--generosity, and a history of care and concern about what you're doing and how you're doing it.
