Get to know "autobiographical visualization"

File under: Bequests and "autobiographic visualization"

Parts of your brain are devoted to your life story...

And when those parts light up, a charitable bequest is much more likely to follow.

Researcher Dr. Russell James and I shared a webinar stage.

Hundreds of computers were logged in across four continents, with one shared goal: to MAKE SIGNIFICANTLY MORE MONEY FOR THEIR MISSIONS ... via the afterlife.

The webinar's title? How to Market Bequests ~ The delicate (but highly lucrative) art of asking for that final gift.

Dr. James is a lawyer, certified financial planner, tenured professor, noted researcher. I'm none of the above. So when Russell spoke about his findings, I was taking notes. Lots of notes.

Here's one bit of new science that I found strikingly useful ... and you might, too!

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Dr. James introduced us to "autobiographical visualization"

The bottom line for fundraisers?

"[When donors re-connect] with their life story [that re-connection] can dramatically increase the likelihood of a gift in their will."

Also in that category? "In honor of" gifts.

His unique neuro-imaging research uncovered this new truth. Dr. James described his methodology: "We stick people in a brain scanner and have them do their estate planning." He laughed. "That's a normal thing, right?"

He elaborated: "One of the things we found was that when the subjects' brains were contemplating the charitable bequest decision in their estate plans, we could accurately predict the likelihood that they would say, YES! I want to include this or that favorite charity in my Will... based upon the amount of activation in certain [other] brain regions, the ones that suggest autobiographical visualization."

Autobiographical visualization?

Reviewing your life ... including thinking about which nonprofits have been personally important to you.

Dr. James: "It makes you think, Well, what causes have been important in my life. And it is actually that neurological thought-process that precedes this decision to essentially include what you might think of as the closing chapter in your autobiography by including that charity in the Will document."

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True: This closing chapter thing?

I offer in evidence this personal sample of 2 people I know well: Simone Joyaux and me.

We were married for 37 years. Simone dragged me out of the commercial ad world (selling everything from lotteries to roof membranes to luxury yachts) into the nonprofit world (selling help and compassion and do-gooding).

[Fun fact: until same-sex marriage became the law of the land in the US, Simone resolutely referred to me as her "partner," not as her "husband" ... as an act of civil disdain.]

As soon as we had assets [bought a house], we had a Will drawn up. In the end, though, we had no kids.

"Childlessness" remains the #1 (and growing) reason why a US household might leave a charitable gift in their estate, as Dr. James confirmed on our webinar.

So what happens if you have assets ... but you don't have kids?

One hundred percent of our estate goes to charity: the universities we graduated from; our local community foundation (which we know intimately and trust); a few other select and specific causes.

We have relatives we love. But they're doing fine financially on their own. They don't need our help.
 

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Julie Cooper