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Hi all, I have a case where a donor has indicated they are withdrawing their bequest. The gift was counted a few years ago but is currently included in our current campaign totals. I'm curious if other institutions reduce the campaign totals when a donor withdraws their bequest. Thanks! -- Mandy L. L. Smith Director of Gifts and Records Management Development & Alumni Relations Virginia Commonwealth University PO Box 842026 111 N. Fourth St. Richmond, VA 23219 (804) 828-0348 mlsmith4@vcu.edu The information contained in this message may be privileged and confidential and protected from disclosure. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately by replying to this message and deleting it from your computer.

What’s the argument for NOT deducting it from the totals? You aren’t getting the money. If it’s the awkwardness of lowering your public number, you might just not update that number until you’ve backfilled that amount with new gifts? (Clearly not the most transparent solution) That’s rough news. Sorry to hear it.—Bill -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: [FUNDSVCS] How to handle withdrawn bequests? Hi all, I have a case where a donor has indicated they are withdrawing their bequest. The gift was counted a few years ago but is currently included in our current campaign totals. I'm curious if other institutions reduce the campaign totals when a donor withdraws their bequest. Thanks! -- Mandy L. L. Smith Director of Gifts and Records Management Development & Alumni Relations Virginia Commonwealth University PO Box 842026 111 N. Fourth St. Richmond, VA 23219 (804) 828-0348 mlsmith4@vcu.edu <mailto:mlsmith4@vcu.edu> The information contained in this message may be privileged and confidential and protected from disclosure. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately by replying to this message and deleting it from your computer. <https://docs.google.com/uc?export=download <https://docs.google.com/uc?export=download&id=0B5ekSP4seDpALXlpbFFsX1VaMms&revid=0B5ekSP4seDpAdDE1amhqOGFIdFE2dFZoN1NzQWIvdmdEYUFjPQ> &id=0B5ekSP4seDpALXlpbFFsX1VaMms&revid=0B5ekSP4seDpAdDE1amhqOGFIdFE2dFZoN1NzQWIvdmdEYUFjPQ>

Absolutely organizations do and should subtract these from totals. It is disingenuous to count something you won't receive. The same applies to pledges that will not be fulfilled. If a donor cancels their pledge, or you determine it isn't collectible, those should also be removed from totals. These ethics and responsibilities regarding campaign counting are touched on in the CASE Guidelines. While this is sad news, covering it up is not the way to go. Instead, your fundraising staff should probably focus on understanding why the bequest - or pledge - has been withdrawn as there could be hidden issues that require fixing. John John H. Taylor Principal John H. Taylor Consulting, LLC 2604 Sevier St. Durham, NC 27705 johntaylorconsulting@gmail.com 919.816.5903 (cell/text) Serving the Advancement Community Since 1987 On Wed, Aug 28, 2019 at 11:39 AM Mandy Smith <mlsmith4@vcu.edu> wrote: > Hi all, > > I have a case where a donor has indicated they are withdrawing their > bequest. The gift was counted a few years ago but is currently included in > our current campaign totals. I'm curious if other institutions reduce the > campaign totals when a donor withdraws their bequest. > > Thanks! > > -- > > Mandy L. L. Smith > Director of Gifts and Records Management > Development & Alumni Relations > Virginia Commonwealth University > PO Box 842026 > 111 N. Fourth St. > Richmond, VA 23219 > (804) 828-0348 > mlsmith4@vcu.edu > > The information contained in this message may be privileged and > confidential and protected from disclosure. If the reader of this message > is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any > dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is strictly > prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify > us immediately by replying to this message and deleting it from your > computer. > >

No one has asked for it to NOT be removed from the campaign. I'm just gathering feedback in case someone does ask the question. Thanks for confirming! On Wed, Aug 28, 2019, 11:53 AM John Taylor <johntaylorconsulting@gmail.com> wrote: > Absolutely organizations do and should subtract these from totals. It is > disingenuous to count something you won't receive. The same applies to > pledges that will not be fulfilled. If a donor cancels their pledge, or > you determine it isn't collectible, those should also be removed from > totals. > > These ethics and responsibilities regarding campaign counting are touched > on in the CASE Guidelines. While this is sad news, covering it up is not > the way to go. Instead, your fundraising staff should probably focus on > understanding why the bequest - or pledge - has been withdrawn as there > could be hidden issues that require fixing. > > John > > John H. Taylor > Principal > John H. Taylor Consulting, LLC > 2604 Sevier St. > Durham, NC 27705 > johntaylorconsulting@gmail.com > 919.816.5903 (cell/text) > > Serving the Advancement Community Since 1987 > > > On Wed, Aug 28, 2019 at 11:39 AM Mandy Smith <mlsmith4@vcu.edu> wrote: > >> Hi all, >> >> I have a case where a donor has indicated they are withdrawing their >> bequest. The gift was counted a few years ago but is currently included in >> our current campaign totals. I'm curious if other institutions reduce the >> campaign totals when a donor withdraws their bequest. >> >> Thanks! >> >> -- >> >> Mandy L. L. Smith >> Director of Gifts and Records Management >> Development & Alumni Relations >> Virginia Commonwealth University >> PO Box 842026 >> 111 N. Fourth St. >> Richmond, VA 23219 >> (804) 828-0348 >> mlsmith4@vcu.edu >> >> The information contained in this message may be privileged and >> confidential and protected from disclosure. If the reader of this message >> is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any >> dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is strictly >> prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify >> us immediately by replying to this message and deleting it from your >> computer. >> >>

We are in the midst of a $100 million campaign. We have had a few of these happen, as well as a couple of large pledges that we were informed would not be completed. In both cases, I deleted/changed the value of the planned gift and wrote off the non-collectible pledges, and changed the campaign report (with notations) to reduce the total to date raised. It is always a discouraging thing to do, but it is important that your reporting reflect the reality of what expect to actually receive for the institution. Ingrid Ingrid Heggoy Zepp, bCRE-Pro Director of Advancement Operations Phone: 610-409-3280 izepp@ursinus.edu<mailto:izepp@ursinus.edu> [Ursinus College] Ursinus College, 601 E. Main Street, Collegeville, PA 19426-1000 From: Advancement Services Discussion List <FUNDSVCS@LISTSERV.FUNDSVCS.ORG> On Behalf Of Mandy Smith Sent: Wednesday, August 28, 2019 11:39 AM To: FUNDSVCS@LISTSERV.FUNDSVCS.ORG Subject: [FUNDSVCS] How to handle withdrawn bequests? Hi all, I have a case where a donor has indicated they are withdrawing their bequest. The gift was counted a few years ago but is currently included in our current campaign totals. I'm curious if other institutions reduce the campaign totals when a donor withdraws their bequest. Thanks! -- Mandy L. L. Smith Director of Gifts and Records Management Development & Alumni Relations Virginia Commonwealth University PO Box 842026 111 N. Fourth St. Richmond, VA 23219 (804) 828-0348 mlsmith4@vcu.edu<mailto:mlsmith4@vcu.edu> The information contained in this message may be privileged and confidential and protected from disclosure. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately by replying to this message and deleting it from your computer. [https://docs.google.com/uc?export=download&id=0B5ekSP4seDpALXlpbFFsX1VaMms&revid=0B5ekSP4seDpAdDE1amhqOGFIdFE2dFZoN1NzQWIvdmdEYUFjPQ]