Building a legacy giving startegy

My experience is similar to Howards. A large proportion of legacy income comes from people you've never heard of, but who have heard of you (presumably through fundraising/legacy raising messages!). The older the organisation is the more likely that people will have heard of you? - but it seems to be that older organisations get less `windfall` legacies in proportion to legacy income.
Has anyone else found this to be true - or is my experience unique?

David

Yes, Roger, I experienced this to some extent both at Amnesty International UK and Afghanaid, when my fundraising responsibilities included legacy fundraising. A noticeable proportion of legacies (sorry, can't remember how much) came from people with whom those organisations had had no traceable communication or involvement.

I've always regarded those kind of gifts as one of the wonderful pot-luck elements of legacy fundraising. Just one of those a year and, given the average size of residuary bequests, your legacy income line could look very healthy.

Of course, there's going to be a reason why someone left your charity a bequest, and you might never find it out. Someone's family member was helped by your charity years ago, the donor had watched a news item about your charity the day before s/he drafted the will, or perhaps disliked your charity's direct mail appeals but was always keen to help on a larger scale.

As for advising your fundraising colleagues, I'd suggest just going on what info you do have to hand in terms of stats, past records. I don't believe you can plan for these 'windfall' legacies - although maybe current legacy fundraisers have some solution for this. What you could so with the windfall legacies is politely ask the solicitor or person who forwarded the gift to you for any information about the donor (age, motivation, links with the charity) if only to help your charity improve the effectiveness of its future fundraising.

I wonder if the proportion of windfall legacies drops off over time as a charity's legacy communications/fundraising campaign starts to take effect?

I am not a fundraiser, but as part of my job I administer legacy receipts. In our case it seems to be unusual to receive a legacy from a former donor. Nearly every bequest, including some substantial ones, have been from people not known to us in their lifetime. So if the fundraisers ask how to target their legacy campaign I cannot give an answer! Is this experience mirrored elsewhere?

While Peter is right - don't mail everyone
It is still a good idea to have a soft ask on all your mailings. a tick box on your response form with "please tell me more about helping XYZ in my will" should produce a few warm leads to follow up on

David

many thanks to your valuable comments. as so many people recommended this book, i'm ordering it now from the dsc.

The important thing to bear in mind for any individual charity is, of course, the motivations of their existing pool of supporters. Those closest to you will be the ones who will, if minded, write you into their wills.

Personally (life's too short) I'd also start with older donors who are already in the position of having made wills. Campaigns to increase percentages of will makers and charitable bequest writers are laudable and necessary, but start with the committed!

So if your database is not easily segmented do as much as you can on: recency, frequency and monetary value. Length of of time with you would be good as well. DONT mail everyone! Test, test and test again.

As Howard says A very good book on the subject is Sebastian Wilberforce's
Legacy Fundraising: The Art of Seeking Bequests.

In a nutshell though, (as with every other form of fundraising) you need a plan which:
Restates the case for support ( from the potential bequestor's viewpoint)
Identifies and prioritises your prospects
Maps out a contact, development and maintenance strategy
Integrates the plan with your own fundraising cycle.

Many treat it as a subset of major gift development, and there's a lot to be said for that as, in the UK the average pecunary bequest is £3,000 and average residiary around £20,000.

Most of all go for it. Talk to anyone who has already promised a bequest (if you have any) and/or the families of those whose gift has come to fruition. Also look at the stuff around Whitewater's concept of "in remembrance funds" which goes under the generic label of "tribute" or " A lasting tribute" I think. It is a great concept and one that can be used to enhance support following a bequest or "in memoriam" gift.

Good luck

For three good sources of advice on legacy fundraising see my recent post at

[url]www.fundraising.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=2223[/url]

OK, so I'm not giving you the detail you want, but you should also find Sebastian Wilberforce's book 'Legacy Fundraising' covers much of what you need to know. More on that at

[url]www.fundraising.co.uk/books.php?list=category&catID=135&category=Planned%20giving%20-%20legacies[/url]

If legacy giving is underdeveloped in Israel - lucky you! While there might be a long haul until attitudes change, if you're in early on and keep reminding your supporters about the opportunity, you should do well.

Thanks for looking at my post, but, i'd REALLY aapricate your reply as well!!

Share, people! ;-)