In her article, Getting Serious About Building Endowment: Straight Talk for Charities and the Professionals That Serve Them, Kathryn Miree, starts off with this Quiz for Nonprofit Managers and Development Staff:
Take this quick quiz to determine if you are prepared to talk with donors about your endowment:
1. Does your organization have an endowment?
2. What is the market value of your endowment?
3. What is the current asset allocation of your endowment?
4. How has that asset allocation changed over the last year with the dramatic changes in the stock market?
5. What was the total return on your endowment last year? (And, what is total return?) What was the total return over the last five years?
6. How do your total returns compare to the blended index return?
7. What is the spending policy for your endowment?
8. Are there any restrictions on terms a donor can impose on endowment gifts?
9. Are there any restrictions on the type of assets that can be contributed to your endowment?
10. Who makes decisions about distributions from your endowment?
Think through the answers you would give a donor if asked. Mark the questions you can answer, and then check the scoring results below:
Number of Questions You Can Answer: 9-10 Well prepared genius -- your donors will be impressed; 5-8 Moderately prepared -- you will survive the call; 3-4 Not good enough -- prepare to be humbled; 0-2 Do you really work there?
If you didn't score as a well prepared genius, the downloadable article below help.
Kathryn Miree, President, Kathryn W. Miree & Associates, is a past president of the National Committee on Planned Giving, past president of the Alabama Planned Giving Council, and past president of the Estate Planning Council of Birmingham, and past president of the Alabama Bankers Association Trust Division. She is a member of the Alabama Bar Association and Birmingham Bar Association. Ms. Miree is a nationally recognized speaker and author on nonprofit gift planning and administration topics. Visit her website via www.giftplanners.com.
gettingserious.pdf