I wanted to let you all at Crescendo know that your Provide and Protect wills workshop ideas, materials and support have been very valuable to the Area Foundation. We have had 2 workshops this year and have drawn in donors and volunteers who did not previously have planned gifts for the Foundation. We have been notified of two bequest gifts as a result of the workshops - one of them was promised even though the person could not come to the workshop!

You have made it very easy to put on these workshops and have also given us the impetus and confidence to do them. Thank you!

Besides the nearly 250,000 page views on our GiftLegacy site, some of our successes included the Wills campaign to encourage charitable bequests this past year. The Wills campaign resulted in over 156 partners requesting the CBN Wills Guidebook and bequest information. 77 partners have communicated they are naming CBN and OBI as beneficiary in their estate plan. We have received current partner verifications naming CBN and OBI (Operation Blessing International) as beneficiary in 13 bequests already. In addition, several large bequests are expected to be put in place by partners in the near future.

The University of Texas Health Science Center Houston received the CASE District IV "Most Improved Planned Giving Program" for 2010! The GiftLegacy eMarketing System was a critical foundation for our success. Increasing our GiftLegacy eNewsletters from bi-monthly to weekly increased our planned giving page views by approximately ten-fold. We are receiving 3-4 responses per week from our GiftLegacy website and personalized eNewsletters. Six new bequests including ones for $250,000 and $100,000 are documented eGifts. Currently we have received 23 requests for the Wills Guide. The GiftLegacy System is so comprehensive and valuable!

I thoroughly enjoyed the training. It was SOOOO helpful. I am just amazed at the products and alignment you all have in your products and the way you help us the professionals in the field. I certainly have my ‘to do’s’ and one is following up on the Newsletter thing.

I can’t remember another seminar where I sat in a room all day and the presenters kept my attention. The material was interesting and useful and well-presented. I can truthfully say it was one of the best seminars I have ever been to.

I appreciate all of the marketing tips and strategies that are as comprehensive as a strategic plan I can put in place. I am grateful for you at Crescendo.

Great Seminar!! I have asked our national center to get our GiftLegacy activated and agreement to Crescendo. We are excited and looking forward to using your entire system.

Thank you for this extra information. That was my first training and I’ve been doing the newsletter since August 2008. There are lots of things I am going to implement right away!

Kathleen and I thank you and your whole team for a great seminar. We came back to work with heads full of ideas.