The Philantrepreneur Journal July 2015 | Page 13

Where practitioners and thought leaders share commentaries and insight ARE YOU STILL IN BUSINESS? CHECK YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING. A re you still in business?  Is your nonprofit still a thriving entity? You might want to check your social media marketing. I am constantly talking to potential clients and researching their social media presence.   I Google them and guess what?  Their Facebook Business Page, Twitter and LinkedIn come up often before their website.   I go to their Facebook Business page and what do you know, they haven’t posted in 3 months, 6 months or sometimes over a year or more.  What does that say about their business?  Either they no longer exist or they care very little about their marketing and branding. I go on to Twitter and find the same thing; tweets that are old and no longer relevant.  Continuing on to their LinkedIn profile, I find very little information and/or old irrelevant information to what they are doing now.  Not a very good online impression if Debbie Harris, MA I am looking to do business with [email protected] them.   In the case of a nonprofit I become immediately skeptical about how well managed they are and whether I should really invest my time, talent or resources. All this and I haven’t even gotten to their website.  At this point, I will likely not even bother to go back to their website but will move on to find someone else to provide that product or service or some other nonprofit with a similar focus.  Why, you ask?  The same reason you would do the same, I don’t have a lot of time to spend hunting down credentials and if they don’t care enough to look good why should I do business with them? PLANNED GIVING – A GREAT STRATEGY FOR EVERYONE P lanned giving” - Charitable donations that allow you to give and receive all at the same time. Planned giving is described as a vehicle that allows you to give to charity during your lifetime and/or after death, while meeting your current income needs and providing for your heirs. Planned giving is typically done in conjunction with estate planning and is a viable option for donors of all income levels – yes, all income levels. It is attractive for many reasons and could allow you to make larger gifts than allowable from your current assets. Depending on how a planned gift is set up, it may also let you receive a stream of income for life, earn higher investment yield, or reduce your capital gains or estate taxes. Planned gifts Crystal D. Smith, often appeal to people Peciaum Education Center who want to support a for Finances, charitable organization PEC Finances Founder but aren’t certain how much of their assets they’ll need for themselves during their lifetimes. Planned gifts can be established as a fund in a community foundation, specific beneficiary designation or to creation of a private foundation. Consult your financial team to plan your strategy to help align your estate with what is important to you. Add your voice to the conversation by submitting a 150-250 word commentary to: [email protected] - Include name, company and contact. The Philantrepreneur Journal reserves the right to review for appropriateness and edit as necessary. All submissions are not guaranteed publication. The Philantrepreneur Journal 13