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  • 1.  counting bequestt due to age: yearly new funds committee vs. campaign duration

    Posted 02-27-2026 02:45 PM


    hello. forgive this if already discussed. 

    For yearly new funds committed, we count documented bequest intentions if the donor will be 65 before the end of the fiscal year. 
    For campaign counting, we count documented bequest intentions if the donor will be 65 before the end of the campaign.

    Let's say the end of campaign is 4 years from now. My donor is 63. We want to book her bequest intention for the campaign. But in current practice, it won't count in our new funds committed for the year. 

    What do you do? 

    thank you all for all your wisdom



    ------------------------------
    Susan Hayes-McQueen
    University of Washington
    shq@uw.edu
    ------------------------------


  • 2.  RE: counting bequestt due to age: yearly new funds committee vs. campaign duration

    Posted 02-27-2026 02:54 PM
    Your policy mirrors that of CASE. It sounds like you cannot count this in your annual totals but can in your campaign. There's nothing wrong with that! After all, these are revocable commitments anyway and aren't "cash in the bank," which is the most important component of annual fundraising totals. Cash and irrevocable commitments is what most organizations look at for annual fundraising comparisons.

    John

    John Taylor Principal, John H. Taylor Consulting, LLC 919.816.5903 Big ideas; small keyboard





  • 3.  RE: counting bequestt due to age: yearly new funds committee vs. campaign duration

    Posted 02-27-2026 03:21 PM

    as always John, thank you.

    We actually do value New Funds Committed on a yearly basis. it's our primary reporting number and is for a lot of us big institutions (since cash is very... fuzzy... here). Cash comes from treasury; we report the work we do on fundraising. 

    any thoughts there?  



    ------------------------------
    Susan Hayes-McQueen
    University of Washington
    shq@uw.edu
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: counting bequestt due to age: yearly new funds committee vs. campaign duration

    Posted 02-27-2026 03:24 PM
    New funds committed typically do not include revocable or conditional gifts. In fact, CASE only added bequests to the VSE as an informational item.

    When I do comparisons I only look at cash, five year enforceable pledges, and irrevocable deferred gifts. Those are the only transactions you can "bank" on and hit your GL.

    John Taylor Principal, John H. Taylor Consulting, LLC 919.816.5903 Big ideas; small keyboard





    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: counting bequestt due to age: yearly new funds committee vs. campaign duration

    Posted 02-27-2026 03:50 PM
    It is, of course, an institution's prerogative to count as it wishes. It's imperative, however, that when surveying other institutions, you conduct an apples-to-apples comparison. Having worked for dozens of huge public and private universities, I know that many do not include bequests, regardless of age, in their annual fundraising totals. However, some will report those received during the year below the line.

    But back to your original question. A bequest from a 63-year-old does not qualify for counting in your annual totals. So, unless your leadership changes your standing policy to something like, "Only count new bequests from donors who will turn 65 by the end of the fiscal year, unless the bequest is countable for campaign purposes," this bequest remains uncountable.

    John

    John H. Taylor, Principal
    John H. Taylor Consulting, LLC
    2604 Sevier Street
    Durham, NC     27705

    919.816.5903 (cell/text)

    Serving the Advancement Community Since 1987


    On Fri, Feb 27, 2026 at 4:23 PM John Taylor <johntaylorconsulting@gmail.com> wrote:
    New funds committed typically do not include revocable or conditional gifts. In fact, CASE only added bequests to the VSE as an informational item.

    When I do comparisons I only look at cash, five year enforceable pledges, and irrevocable deferred gifts. Those are the only transactions you can "bank" on and hit your GL.

    John Taylor Principal, John H. Taylor Consulting, LLC 919.816.5903 Big ideas; small keyboard





    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: counting bequestt due to age: yearly new funds committee vs. campaign duration

    Posted 02-27-2026 03:53 PM

    thank you. 



    ------------------------------
    Susan Hayes-McQueen
    University of Washington
    shq@uw.edu
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 7.  RE: counting bequestt due to age: yearly new funds committee vs. campaign duration

    Posted 02-27-2026 04:39 PM
    No problem!

    BTW, I confirmed on the CASE VSE website that revocable bequest intentions are an "optional" reporting item. They aren't automatically included in comparisons.

    JHT

    John H. Taylor, Principal
    John H. Taylor Consulting, LLC
    2604 Sevier Street
    Durham, NC     27705

    919.816.5903 (cell/text)

    Serving the Advancement Community Since 1987





    Original Message


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