Donor Compass™, our proprietary database analysis tool, identifies the donors in your database who are most likely to make a planned gift or participate in a current giving program.

By combining our unique, highly donor-centric approach with targeted direct response marketing, our planned giving and annual/current giving campaigns achieve unparalleled results, raising millions in revenue for our clients.

We are Legacy Leaders, and this is our story.

We are a privately held firm and the 1^st direct response fundraising vendor to introduce a planned giving program. The nonprofit sector had never before seen a program focused on planned rather than annual/current giving.

What makes the Legacy Leaders team experts?

We have more than 22 years in business and 235+ proactive planned giving programs under our belts. That makes Legacy Leaders, easily, the most experienced provider of planned gift marketing. But that’s not all. Urged by our clients, we decided to venture into annual/current gift fundraising. We applied the same donor-centric approach that we developed for planned giving and – it turns out – our focus on strengthening relationships works equally as well in the annual/current giving arena.

Our proactive programs can include:

Donor Compass™ Database Analysis
Integrated phone and mail components
Planned giving donor prospecting, cultivation and stewardship
Major and annual/current gift acquisition and donor cultivation

We are the only fundraising vendor that offers:

Integrated analytics and program execution
4 year planned giving programs
Guaranteed planned giving results
Planned giving focus groups

If you’re looking to optimize your fundraising efforts, talk to the experts.

Our Beginning

In 1995, Legacy Leaders was founded to provide direct response planned giving services. A team of fundraising experts recognized the immense potential of planned giving for nonprofits … and realized that traditional marketing methods failed to maximize planned giving.

Through research and hands-on practice, the team determined how to achieve the best results. Their methods included:

- Tried and proven planned giving practices
- Targeted direct response marketing
- Donor database analysis based on empirical results

Legacy Leaders best-in-industry programs focus on:

Communicating with the supporters of our nonprofit clients through donor-centric phone and mail campaigns
Enhancing donor loyalty and engagement with our nonprofit clients
Achieving superior results
Building expertise in donor database analysis
Supporting research to expand the body of fundraising knowledge

Groundbreaking Approach

The Legacy Leaders unique, donor-centric approach broke new ground in the 90’s. Since then, we’ve partnered with close to 200 nonprofit clients to execute 275+ programs. We didn’t stop there, either. With each campaign and each new project, we focused on enhancing donor loyalty/engagement with our nonprofit clients and ensuring the best possible results. At the same time, we worked hard to build and improve our methodology. We thoroughly analyzed completed programs and then we continually identified ways to innovate and elevate our expertise.

Our direct response marketing and donor database analysis have:

Raised hundreds of millions of dollars in bequest revenue for our clients
Delivered significant increases in the number of new planned gift commitments
Positively influenced annual/current and major gift contributions by enhancing donor/nonprofit relationships

Learn more about our fundraising programs and our Donor Compass™ Database Analysis by clicking the link below. Our team is ready to help you!

Fundraising Programs

Giving Back to the Community

Legacy Leaders is committed to expanding the body of fundraising knowledge through research. As an Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) Research Partner, we provide funding and insights. The AFP is only one of the many ways Legacy Leaders has expanded the study of planned giving over the past 10+ years. A few of the organizations we actively support include the National Association of Charitable Gift Planners (CGP), the Washington Planned Giving Council (WPGC), the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) Vancouver and the Canadian Association of Gift Planners (CAGP) Mentoring Program. We are also a proud sponsor of the Woodmark Summit, the Colorado Planned Giving Roundtable Summer Symposium and the Annual National Conference of the Canadian Association of Gift Planners (CAGP).

A Snapshot of Our Story

September 2015

2015

Donor Compass 2.0™ is released. This new and improved version incorporates 2 additional measurement components based on an additional 7 years of empirical evidence.

September 2014

2014

Legacy Leaders releases Donor Compass™ Database Analysis as a stand-alone service.

September 2011

2011

Royal Ontario Museum Governors partners with Legacy Leaders to execute a 2,200 lead Custom Planned Giving Program targeting their board, donors, members and volunteers.

September 2010

2010

Colorado State University partners with Legacy Leaders to launch a 4 year Complete Planned Giving Program.
Legacy Leaders executes its 125^th planned gift focused campaign/project.

September 2009

2009

Seattle University selects Legacy Leaders to execute their 4 year Complete Planned Giving Program.

September 2008

2008

Legacy Leaders growth requires that we move to a larger Canadian Headquarters.
The George Washington University Foundation selects Legacy Leaders to execute a 4 year Complete Planned Giving Program where conversation/mail messaging was uniquely tailored for each of 7 different alumni segments.
The 2 research papers funded by Legacy Leaders in 2006 are released:
- Causes and Correlates of Charitable Giving in Estate Planning: A Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Examination of Older Adults by Russell N. James III, J.D., Ph.D.
- Identification, Death and Bequest Giving by Adrian Sargeant & Jen Shang.

September 2007

2007

Legacy Leaders begins marketing its unique 4 year Complete Planned Giving Program that includes:
- Donor Compass™ Database Analysis (the 1^st database analysis tool on the market designed specifically to unlock the hidden planned giving potential in a nonprofit’s database).
- Focus groups.
- A 2 phase planned gift prospect acquisition/qualification campaign.
- 3 years of prospect cultivation/stewardship.
University of Florida Foundation selects Legacy Leaders to execute a 4 year Complete Planned Giving Program.

December 2006

2006

Through a $50,000 grant to the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) Research Council, Legacy Leaders provides funding to support 2 separate planned giving motivation research projects conducted by:
- Russell James.
- Adrian Sargeant & Jen Shang.

September 2005

2005

Legacy Leaders is named an Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) Research Partner.
We execute our 50^th campaign/project; by partnering with Legacy Leaders more than 30 clients had exceeded traditional planned gift acquisition methods by 10% – 100%.

September 2004

2004

Legacy Leaders 1^st facility in the U.S. opens.

September 2003

2003

Legacy Leaders passes the $200,000,000 mark in planned giving commitments secured on behalf of North American nonprofit clients.

September 2002

2002

A profile of Legacy Leaders is featured in Advancing Philanthropy, the bi-monthly magazine published by the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP).

September 2001

2001

Legacy Leaders wins the Gold Standard Award from the Advertising Bureau of Canada for its campaign executed on behalf of Ryerson University.
The Arthritis Society of Canada partners with Legacy Leaders; our 1^st campaign for a national Canadian client.

September 2000

1999, 2000, 2001

Legacy Leaders receives the Association of Healthcare Professionals Showcase Award for Planned Giving.

September 1996

1996

The Chronicle of Philanthropy publishes a feature article about Legacy Leaders planned giving focused direct response programs.
Legacy Leaders wins the Canadian Direct Marketing Association Merit Award for Integrated Marketing.

September 1995

1995

Legacy Leaders is founded.
We are the 1^st direct response fundraising vendor to introduce to the North American nonprofit sector integrated mail/phone programs that focus on planned giving as opposed to annual/current giving.