"Cheerfully given” gifts: How the Center for Action and Contemplation raised $300K+ in bequest commitments and $120K+ in stocks and QCDs

The Opportunity

The Center for Action and Contemplation (CAC) is an educational nonprofit introducing seekers to the contemplative Christian path of transformation, working to deepen prayer practice and strengthen compassionate engagement in the world.

After CAC received a few unexpected, large planned gifts from supporters who had passed away, their team was keen to find a solution that would allow them to honor and appreciate the generosity of legacy donors while they are still alive. When CAC learned of FreeWill’s Planned Giving Suite, they recognized an opportunity to partner and achieve this goal. 



CAC also saw value in sharing a well-designed resource for free end-of-life planning with their community to support them in stewarding all their blessings and fulfilling their giving goals.

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The Solution

CAC decided to partner not only with FreeWill’s Planned Giving Suite, but also the Smart Giving Suite to provide supporters with information about easy, value-aligned ways to give beyond cash that they might not have previously been familiar with.

FreeWill’s Planned Giving Suite offers comprehensive estate planning tools that allow their community members to plan for their assets, finances, healthcare wishes, legacy contributions, and more. The Smart Giving Suite offers a streamlined way of donating non-cash gifts, such as stocks and Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs) from their IRA.

Director of Development and Strategic Partnerships, Ben Keesey, expresses that the real-time tools from the Smart Giving Suite and the marketing outreach guidance from FreeWill expose donors to these ways to support, driving them to make gifts either through the tools or from their own brokerage accounts.

CAC takes a unique approach to communicating with their donors, ensuring that the funds they receive are “freely and cheerfully given”. Their fundraising strategy ensures that donating feels completely optional and that people are also encouraged to give elsewhere if they feel pulled to do so.

With FreeWill, CAC has an assigned Strategist to provide insight into FreeWill’s successful and proven outreach strategies. The CAC team collaborates with their Strategist to adapt these approaches to fit their specific fundraising model.

“FreeWill resonates with us because it provides a way to recognize donors during their lifetime, knowing they are planning to give. It also offers valuable resources that support our community, serving as one of the tools they can use to be generous, both to our organization and in the broader world.”

Through this thoughtful partnership, FreeWill’s Planned and Smart Giving Suites have helped amplify CAC’s giving philosophy and yielded thousands of dollars in both real-time and legacy gifts.

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