Case Study: ACLU achieves 169% increase in planned-giving response and 59% fewer mailings with Blackbaud Planned Giving Likelihood scoring

ACLU Continues to Protect Freedom Through Generous Donor Support

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), a nationwide defender of civil liberties, depends heavily on leadership-level planned gifts from estates and trusts but found sourcing, vetting and asking for these gifts time-consuming and sensitive. For an annual planned giving campaign the fundraising team needed a way to identify the most receptive prospects so they could focus communications and avoid alienating donors or wasting resources.

ACLU adopted Target Analytics’ Planned Giving Likelihood (PGL) scores to segment and rank prospects and mailed only the top-scoring constituents. That focused approach cut direct mail volume by 59%, saved postage and production costs, and drove a 169% increase in response rate, while also informing face‑to‑face solicitation and capacity-based outreach.

ACLU

Mohammed Zaidi

Director of Planned Giving