BRINGING BACK A LOST ART Your Guide to Writing a Thank-You Note
A 2019 survey by Ask Your Target Market showed 80% of respondents appreciate receiving thank-you notes — but only 22% of respondents report regularly sending them. That’s a pretty big discrepancy. During the holiday season, you probably received several gifts and may have been hosted at a family member’s house, so now is the perfect time to revive the dying art of the thank-you note. If it’s been a while since you last wrote one, fear not. Here’s everything you need to know to get started. KNOW WHEN A NOTE IS NEEDED. You should strongly consider sending a thank-you note any time you receive a gift, but they are particularly expected after big events like weddings or showers. It’s also good form to send a note whenever someone has done you a big favor or hosted you at their house. Professionally, thank-you notes should always be sent
after job interviews. Notes should be sent as soon as possible, ideally within one month of the gift or event. USE PAPER. It may seem old-fashioned, but that’s exactly what makes it special. In fact, the Ask Your Target Market survey found that 72% of respondents thought handwritten notes were more meaningful than electronic ones. Even if your handwriting is messy, your recipients will appreciate the personal touch. Exceptions apply for thank-you notes sent after job interviews — due to time sensitivity, these are best sent via email. BE SPECIFIC. Especially when you’ve got a large stack to get through, it’s pretty tempting to write the same note over and over again, changing only the salutation. Don’t give in! While it’s fine to have a template, recipients will recognize when the note you sent them is generic. Be sure to mention exactly what you’re
thankful for (not just “the gift”) or how you plan to use the gift.
Now, you’re ready to let people know how much you appreciate them in a way that’s both simple and classic. Your family, friends, and colleagues will be impressed, and who knows, you just might start a trend.
LEAVE A LEGACY: CREATING A SCHOLARSHIP
We have recently had several clients come to us interested in setting up scholarships as part of their planning. Scholarships can be a great idea if you want to leave a legacy that could last for years after your death while supporting students going to your alma mater. The good news is that many scholarships are funded through estate plans, such as wills or trusts, and do not require a donation to be made while you are alive and may still need to utilize your assets to pay for your own personal expenses. You can also set forth in your plan that the gift will only be made if you have a certain amount of assets left. Many people believe you have to be worth millions of dollars to set up scholarships in your estate plan, and nothing could be further from the truth. In working with various universities and private schools, we have found that while the schools will accept gifts in any amount, to set up a scholarship fund in your name or the name of a loved one, all you need is as little as $25,000–$50,000. Once the school knows approximately what the size of the gift will be, they can work with you to determine how much your scholarship fund can give every year, and you can decide how many scholarships you want to fund annually based upon that gift. Also, most institutions will let you specify exactly whom you want to receive the scholarships and the criteria for eligibility. For instance, you could specify that only students from your church who have a GPA over 3.5 are eligible. Or, you could specify
that only students studying a specific major, such as accounting or art history, are eligible. You can even set criteria based on demographics, involvement in athletics or extracurricular activities, or community service. There are a lot of possibilities when looking at setting up a scholarship as part of your estate plan. We often half-jokingly tell clients that it is difficult to completely “control assets from the grave.” But scholarships are a rare exception to that rule. Scholarships can be very narrow and specific, which, in many ways, does allow you to control exactly what your money is used for. But, in order for scholarship gifts to work effectively, they need to be set up in advance. In addition to specifying the scholarship gift in your estate plan, most institutions require that you set up a “Letter of Intent” ahead of time that supplies the school with the specific information regarding the estimated amount of the gift, criteria for your scholarship, formal name of scholarship, etc. Imagine the amazing legacy and benefit to our community if more of us were willing to help fund future educational opportunities through scholarship programs. With the ever-increasing cost of education, scholarships often allow students to afford schools they might not have been able to go to otherwise. If you want more information on how to set up a scholarship program through your estate plan, give us a call.
2 • www.strattonreynolds.com
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