1. Your corporate image – Does your organization have the appearance of stability? Does the Board help give the organization the appearance of permanence. Are there areas that need to be strengthened? What are the current situations that may cause you problems?

2. Does your organization have a meritorious case for future support? – You’ll get nowhere very quickly, unless your organization is playing a relevant and important role in society, and you have developed a clear, simple and unarguable case for its support.

3. Do you have Board support? – What about your Board composition? Does it include any champions of your bequest program? How many members are 50 years of age plus? Have any bequest gifts been arranged by Board members? If not, would members be receptive to making a bequest? Would your Board members encourage peers to arrange a gift? Has the Board been involved in long term planning? Does the Board understand the concept of marketing?

4. Annual fund – Is there an annual fund? You must have donors giving on an annual basis before you can consider a bequest program. More importantly, how many significant annual gifts do you receive, and from how many donors?

5. Data base – Are your donor lists well maintained? Can any demographic trends be identified – age, sex, income levels? How many names are on the list – 500 or 5000?

6. Donor relations – What is the level of your credibility with donors? What is the quality of their relationship to your organization? How meaningful and how long? Do you have donors and prospects who are over 50 and have reasonable wealth?

7. Communications – What is the quality, type and quantity of your communications with donors and prospects? Is it only solicitation material, or do donors receive annual reports, regular newsletters, and other non-solicitation materials?

8. Other appropriate programs – Do you have a memorial program in place? Are there policies and procedures which encourage endowed gifts? What about formal recognition programs?

9. History of realized bequests – Have there ever been any ad hoc bequests? How many over the past five years and how large?

10. Investing for the future – Does your organization have the capacity, and even more important, the will to spend current funds for future support?

Dr. Ed Pearce is Associate Director of Development, Queens University. This article is based on his presentation to the First National Fundraising Congress, sponsored by the National Society of Fund Raising Executives, Greater Toronto Chapter, November 16-18, 1995, in Toronto.