A turnkey approach to planned giving: how the National Featureship powered Stand Up To Cancer’s first five months

The Opportunity

For more than 18 years, Stand Up To Cancer has accelerated groundbreaking cancer research through scientific collaboration, media partnerships, and public engagement. While the organization had historically received bequests, these gifts were not solicited but driven by donors who were attracted to Stand Up To Cancer’s bold mission.

With legacy and estate planning becoming a larger part of nonprofit fundraising, the team saw an opportunity to build a proactive planned giving strategy. But with a small development team they faced a critical challenge: how to launch and grow a program without adding significant internal capacity while simultaneously building a commitment to planned giving strategies along with its existing fundraising programs.

The webinars and the website were really educational. I probably followed them for about 6 months before we even reached out to FreeWill.

Jim O’Sullivan
Director of Philanthropy, Stand Up To Cancer

The Solution

To build a scalable planned giving program, SU2C partnered with FreeWill after first engaging with its educational resources. “The webinars and the website were accessible and educational. I probably followed them for about six months before we even reached out to FreeWill,” shared Jim O’Sullivan, Director of Philanthropy.

When evaluating solutions, the team was looking to enhance their existing staff and programs while setting them up for long-term success. “FreeWill had the closest to a turnkey solution of anything we looked at. We wanted to be able to start relatively slowly and then scale our commitment up.”

FreeWill enabled Stand Up To Cancer to move from a passive approach to a more intentional strategy. The platform provided donors an easy-to-use tool for will creation, along with educational materials that helped reinforce the importance of planned giving with different audiences. Beyond the tools themselves, Jim noted that FreeWill offered a structured campaign framework.

“The ready-made cadence of an annual campaign with touchpoints for donors has been a helpful tool for us. We can think about how we integrate planned giving into our own social media and outreach efforts across the year.”

Participation in FreeWill’s National Featureship further expanded visibility, positioning Stand Up To Cancer prominently on the web site and helping raise $3.92M in primary bequest dollars. “We’ve had over 50 wills created in our first five months, which has been a terrific way to get started.”

With a strong foundation now in place, the team is optimistic about what’s ahead.

We’ve had a strong start for this effort, and we’re looking forward to seeing how much more it can develop.

Jim O’Sullivan
Director of Philanthropy, Stand Up To Cancer

About Stand Up To Cancer

Stand Up To Cancer® (SU2C) raises awareness and funds research to detect and treat cancers with the aspiration to cure all patients. SU2C is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization and was initially launched as a division of the Entertainment Industry Foundation. Established in 2008 by media and entertainment leaders, SU2C utilizes these communities’ resources to engage the public in supporting a new, collaborative model of cancer research, to increase awareness about cancer prevention, and to highlight progress being made in the fight against the disease. As of April 2025, more than 3,100 scientists representing more than 210 institutions are involved in SU2C-funded research projects.