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By Alison O'carroll

Two things follow from this inclusiveness. First, required “proof” of a gift should be minimal. Any written or verbal indication of a commitment should be sufficient; more formal documentation could follow, but it doesn’t really matter whether it does or not. Very rarely will donors tell you they have made these types of gifts when they haven’t. Second, there should not be a minimum required gift size. By their very nature, bequest gifts are difficult to “value” and to “credit” and might even vary over a donor’s lifetime (for example, a gift of a stated percent of the donor’s residual estate). No purpose is achieved by excluding a deferred gift donor.