legacies / planned giving

Hi all I'd like to be kept posted for the northenr legacy group meetings please, hopefully I'll be able to attend, Many thanks Angela Bunting Legacy Officer

Good luck Laura! About 10 years ago Allison Turner and I started the Northern Legacy Marketing Group (NLMG) & it is still going strong today. It is especially

We could not manage more than once a quarter. Much of what is discussed in this group is beyond our needs at the moment as our programme is and will remain

Hi All, I was wondering if those in the Southwest would be interested in forming a Southwest legacy group to get together on an informal (or formal if so

Reminds me of the large UK utility company who once mailed 20,000 deceased people with a letter that literally read, 'Dear Deceased, Wouldn't you like to

Hi Colin, We've just had a model built by Axciom, happy to give more details if you want to message me. Kind regards Louise ... One of the early pioneers and

Think I can top that Duncan. I worked somewhere that sent legacy ask mailing to LEGATORS... I wasn't working in Legacy marketing at that time I hasten to add!

Before I became a consultant I did lots of legacy visits as an employee of a big charity and one I particularly remember.   It was just outside Padstow NO it

When I ran my very first Free Wills campaign in 2001, I tested a layout for an advertisement by sending a dummy to a newspaper to see how it would look on the

Worst stories? Too many to list but they include vomiting, telling a STAR CELEB I thought he just sucked human blood from humans; calling a member of the Royal

Once upon a time I mailed 50,000 dead people asking them to leave a legacy. The results were predictable. In every sense. Regards Duncan Www.legacygiving.co.uk

That's a brilliant story! I haven't contributed to this group yet, but have been reading all your contributions. I am just developing a legacy strategy for

Hi Fiona Great idea. Very briefly: My worst experience - in my first fundraising role in the 1980's I ran a legacy ad in a newsletter, which elicited only one

Hi Fiona, My best and worst experience as a legacy fundraiser was when I was the only person at a benefactors funeral Richard Hick Head of

Hi everyone When Claire emailed earlier today she mentioned that the committee has looked at how to make the forum as effective as possible for all our

Hello everyone A slightly belated Happy New Year to everyone from the legacy and in memoriam group committee! We had a great meeting to plan what will be going

Dear all As you may know, last year we launched a research programme into the In-Memoriam sector, called In-Memoriam Insight. Feedback on the work to date has

Legacy marketing can be a bit "us" and "them" can't it? We the charity asking them the supporters for a donation. We use marketing techniques to overlay and crunch the data. We segment and target prospects that match the best profiles and have the greatest propensity to give. It can all seem a bit one way, impersonal and data driven. But there is a different way.

Some of the most effective legacy fundraising I have seen is based not so much on these techniques (although we cannot abandon them entirely), but on developing a strong legacy culture, in other words where leaving a legacy to a given cause is the normal, natural thing for supporters to do.

200 years agao, it was a very normal thing to leave a legacy to your local parish church. Look in many older church buildings and you will still see the plaques remembering these donors. They did it because it was expected and just "what you did". But we have got out of the habit, which is why charities invest so much in persuading people it is a good idea and why Remember a Charity has been seeking to normalise legacy giving again.

There are examples though of charities in recent years that have successfully established legacy giving as the norm, from trustees and major givers downwards. Take a look at the Acorns Childrens' Hospice campaign as a good example. This charity has massively increased its legacy income and also created a deep culture of legacies. The two are clearly connected. So what are the secrets to achieving this?

Firstly, leadership. From the top of the organisation it needs to be made clear that serious supporters are expected to leave a legacy. Trustees can take the lead here.

Secondly, openness. Successful legacy fundraising charities talk about legacies at every opportunity, in a natural and unforced way, whether this is in conversation, in literature, at events or on websites.

Thirdly, consistency. Legacies are not just promoted occasionally when the latest appeal is out of the way or fitted into a mailing schedule. Rather they are given priority and mentioned regularly, so that everyone in the community associated with the charity gets the message.

Fourthly, internal marketing supports the external. By making sure all your staff, trustees and volunteers "get" the importance of legacies, you are creating a large sales force of ambassadors that can extend its influence far beyond the reach of the fundraising team.

Creating a legacy culture is not a quick fix. It takes time and persistance, but for those charities that achieve it, the results are the holy grail of fundraising.

Great response by Stuart and I have real concerns about propensity modelling because with legator profiles changing through generations then the past cannot

Wow, great response Stuart! I think I need read that one through a few times to fully digest. Ashley Rowthorn Legacy Marketing Manager Alzheimer's Society,