I am passionate about not asking our supporters to consider something I would not consider, or do, myself. Who wants to walk into a Renault showroom and later find that the salesman drives a Ford?
At a time of media scrutiny in the sector, myself and two members of staff from the Cystic Fibrosis Trust embraced the ‘Remember a Charity week’ campaign of extreme will writing by walking from the Trust’s former office in Bromley to our new Central London offices wearing fancy dress. Upon arriving we executed our new wills, which all included a gift for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust, having also raised sponsorship at the same time.
We are all passionate about our ultimate goal of beating cystic fibrosis for good. We speak to and meet supporters who have the condition or are affected by it through family or friends. We know the impact it has, and how it still cuts life short. I am passionate about not asking our supporters to consider something I would not consider, or do, myself. Who wants to walk into a Renault showroom and later find that the salesman drives a Ford?
As we walked the sponsored 12-mile trip, we provided updates on social media – showcasing our efforts and shared the moment our own wills were signed. Our supporters got behind the campaign creating a great buzz online. We also saw an influx of legacy enquiries both on the day and throughout Remember a Charity week.
Jessica, who is pictured dressed as an egg, works for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust and also has a daughter, Ellie, aged four, who has the condition. Jessica wants, like all those affected by the condition, to see further advances in treatments, care and ultimately a cure. Like the majority of the staff at the Trust, she has attended an internal training course on “talking gifts in wills and courageous conversations”, to learn how all staff members and not just fundraisers can mention gifts in wills in conversations with supporters and break down the barriers to what for some, can still be a difficult topic to discuss.
Legacy marketing has only been conducted at the Trust in the last few years; due to the difficulties and sensitivities of promoting it around a condition that’s life-limiting. But it’s clear our legacy income would be far higher if we’d started mentioning legacies before. Now, with a new bold strategy, we are shouting loud about legacies throughout the organisation both internally and externally. At the center of this is the delivery of legacy conversations training – ensuring staff mention gifts in wills, not always with an ask, as an important aspect of our income; breaking down the barriers of talking about writing a will and without needing to be a probate lawyer or have a conversation focused around death. As a nation we are happy to talk about pension contributions, which will benefit us at a time we may never reach, but there’s still concern about talking about wills – often a simple document to protect those we love and support which takes effect at a life phase we will all meet.
The root to successful legacy fundraising is a simple, grassroots one. We need to let supporters know that writing a will is important, and that they should do so in order to make provision for family and friends. Let them know the difference they can make to the charities they support in their lifetime by including a gift to them. And leave them to make a choice. Each supporter is different; treat them that way. Relationship fundraising is about the supporter and the charity knowing each other and understanding each other. I still read Legacy Manager job descriptions which are focused purely on direct marketing, with no mention of training staff and volunteers and integrating it across the organization – yet everyone shouts louder than ever before about relationship fundraising. The two don’t align.
The job of talking about gifts in wills lies throughout a charitable organisation; the legacy team should only be the ‘hub’. At the recent Great North Run, with hundreds of thousands of people wandering around the charity village, it was disappointing to see so few charities with prominent gifts in wills literature. Whilst I’ve heard many speak of relationship fundraising and integrating the message, there appeared little evidence. I believe supporters should be introduced to gifts in wills through a ‘drip feed’ approach across an organization and through conversation, so that there is little element of surprise when contact is made. After all, to the supporter, a charity is one organisation and income generation departments should stand together with the whole engagement team for the level of donor journey which supporters quite rightly expect. Successful legacy marketing involves putting the supporter at the centre of what we do and providing stewardship before and long after the gift has been included, so that they continue to know the advances being made, and the fact that their gift is still needed and will make a difference.
We know that with the help of our fantastic supporters, gifts in wills can help us to continue to fight cystic fibrosis until we beat it for good. We are not scared to tell them that and to leave them to make their own mind up. We believe family and friends should come first, but ultimately people with cystic fibrosis die too young and gifts in wills will allow us to continue our work into beating the condition.
Michael Clark 