The Will Power Campaign & CALU: Moving The Philanthropic Conversation Forward

As the Will Power campaign forges ahead in its aim to inspire more Canadians to leave an estate gift to charity, we know that professional advisors have a big role to play. This is why we are grateful to Founding Partners and sector sponsors like CALU (Conference for Advanced Life Underwriting), an association made up of leaders in the life insurance and financial advisory industry, who are helping to advance the philanthropic conversation.

Research out of the US shows that over 42% of donors consult their financial advisor before including a gift in their Will*. It should come as no surprise that many donors speak to their trusted financial advisors, lawyers, and notaries about estate gifts before making any decisions. But what do these conversations look like?  We often hear from professional advisors that they include a charitable prompt on their client intake forms or include a question about charity as part of a checklist with clients. But we need to go farther than this to help clients achieve their “generosity dream”. We’ve found a huge discrepancy between the kind of high-level prompts advisors are having with their clients and the kind of in-depth philanthropic conversations clients want with their advisors.**

If we really are going to inspire more estate gifts to charity, trusted advisors must show their clients how they can achieve their generosity dreams by planning their estate and using their assets in unique ways. The look on a client’s face when they realize they can leave a 5 or 6 figure gift to advance the causes close to their heart, something they never thought possible? Priceless. The benefit to your business? Providing more value that leads to stronger relationships and more family/friend referrals**.

As part of their commitment to the Will Power movement, CALU is making sure that all advisors who are partners in the Will Power campaign have access to best practices on how to have the philanthropic conversation with clients, including the type of assets to use. CALU has generously sponsored a free CAGP gift planning training session for Will Power advisor partners in June.

To find out how to become a Will Power advisor partner, click here - https://www.cagp-acpdp.org/en/will-power

*Penelope Burke webinar February 25th 2021. "What Donors Are Saying about Bequest Potential" https://cygresearch.com/upcoming-webinars/

**https://www.cagp-acpdp.org/sites/default/files/The_Philanthropic_Conversati.pdf