What every library can (and should) do to increase private support through planned gifts

Everyone knows an outright gift when they see it: a one‐time gift of cash, or a pledge, a permanent gift of manuscripts, or a gift of appreciated stock which is sold by the charity for cash proceeds; even the donation of a single book is an “outright” gift to the library. A planned gift is as much a process as it is a charitable transaction. While a full discussion of the range of planned giving is beyond the scope of this article, a short definition will suffice: a planned gift is one that conforms to goals of the donor’s formal plan regarding their finances, retirement, or estate.