Visionary Voices

Digital will platforms are expensive, slow, and aimed at the wrong donors. High-net-worth households use attorneys; faith-based institutions dominate bequests without these tools. The math is brutal: decades of fees to net very little, while boards celebrate gross and skip the P&L. In the rooms that matter, peers are polite—and quietly laughing. If you want six-figure legacies (average $50K–$90K, with 70% realized within five years of death), fund disciplined, relationship-based cultivation, advisor outreach, and a real moves-management program. Stop signaling convenience over competence. Choose effective over easy—and earn legacies this decade, not the next.

When the Classical Theatre of Harlem lost $60,000 in NEA funding, outrage followed. But let’s strip away the emotion and apply business logic: if your organization can’t survive without a government grant, the problem isn’t the funding cut—it’s your model. The arts shouldn’t have to beg. They should thrive. Planned giving isn’t flashy, but it works. It’s time to move from panic to planning—and build financial independence that doesn’t hinge on politics or pity.

Nonprofits rarely collapse from bad intentions. They collapse because the foundation is cracked. Seven pillars determine survival: strategy, packaging, focus, prospects, outreach, stewardship, and leverage. Miss one and you wobble. Miss two or three and you’re irrelevant. Passion won’t save you. Discipline will. Prosperity isn’t luck—it’s alignment. Ignore the pillars, and you’re building a mission on sand.