Bequests First, Questions Later

By Laurence A. Pagnoni, MPA

A review of Planned Giving Accelerated by Tony Martignetti

"Martignetti cuts the excuse-making out of planned giving entirely. This is the rare fundraising book that tells you to do less, not more — and shows you exactly how that restraint pays off."

I've known Tony Martignetti as a colleague for more than 20 years, and in that time I've called on his counsel more times than I can recall. He's also, worth noting, a trained attorney — a background that shows up throughout the book in his clear-eyed handling of bequest language, gift agreements, and the legal edges of planned giving, even as he insists (repeatedly, and with some glee) that you don't need a law degree to launch a program.

Most planned giving guides overwhelm small and mid-size nonprofits with a menu of gift vehicles before they've made a single ask. Planned Giving Accelerated does the opposite. Tony Martignetti, who has spent nearly three decades in the field, builds his entire launch strategy around one deliberately narrow idea: start with bequests, and only bequests, because they require no donor education, no legal expertise, and no lifetime cost to your supporters.

The book's first three chapters lay out what Martignetti calls a one-week launch — identify loyal, long-tenured donors from data you already have, learn the (minimal) mechanics of a bequest ask, and start those conversations. It's a genuinely useful corrective for organizations that have delayed planned giving because it seemed to require specialized staff or a menu of complex trust vehicles.

Martignetti is just as interested in dismantling the myths that keep small shops from starting at all — that planned giving is only for wealthy donors, that it cannibalizes other fundraising, that it requires a morbid conversation about death rather than a hopeful one about an organization's future. He backs these arguments with research from Russell James (who also contributes the foreword) alongside decades of frontline anecdotes.

The book's conversational, heavily footnoted style — closer to a coaching call than a manual — won't be for every reader, and practitioners who already run active planned giving programs may find the core material familiar. But for a fundraiser, executive director, or board member at an organization with no planned giving program at all, this is a low-friction, encouraging place to begin. An appendix on gift vehicles beyond bequests (charitable gift annuities, remainder trusts, and more) rounds out the book for those ready to expand later — though Martignetti is clear throughout that doing so is optional, not a requirement for success.

Recommended for small and mid-size nonprofit development offices looking for a genuine starting point rather than a comprehensive reference.

Planned Giving Accelerated by Tony Martignetti, Esq. is available in hardcover, paperback, digital, and audio editions beginning September 2026.

Learn more about Tony and his work at tonymartignetti.com.

Please share this review with your fundraising and nonprofit colleagues.