Hi there!
On our campaign report, which is still rather new as we're still in the silent phase, we are counting planned/deferred gifts in three buckets - planned gifts-irrevocable; planned gifts-realized additions (also includes undocumented realized bequests); and planned gifts-revocable. In that last bucket - revocable planned gifts - of course we include bequests in a donor's will or living trust, but I'm wondering how do others handle beneficiary designations? The way the report is built now, it would currently include a beneficiary designation of a DAF or retirement account, but not a life insurance policy. This seems inconsistent - like we should count all beneficiary designations or none?
I do see in the CASE global reporting standards section 3.3.5 where it says institutions should consider gifts of whole life insurance policies as a gift only if the donor names the institution both the owner and irrevocable beneficiary of the policy. However, that is in the middle of section 3.3 on Non-Cash Gifts, so I'm wondering if that guidance refers to counting it as an outright gift. I can't find anything in the CASE standards about counting the beneficiary designation as a revocable planned gift.
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Katie Bell
University of Richmond
katie.bell@richmond.edu------------------------------