Legacy promotion letter

Thank you so much, that is really useful advice. The idea of getting a supporter who has already written us into his will to 'write' the letter for us is brilliant.

By the way, when I said we have 'published' a Will-making guide, it is purely a couple of sheets of A4 which we photocopy if anyone wants one! Nothing glossy but just the info clearly set out to assist people.

Again, thank you, definitely going to take your advice.

[quote]How on earth do we broach the subject? We cannot afford to ask a specialist consultant to handle this for us so we are looking for advice!
[/quote]
George Smith memorably describes the legacy as "the gift that dares not speak its name", and argues that the people being asked for legacies are generally far more comfortable with the idea of their mortality than the people writing the letter. Maybe I know a disproportionate number of pragmatic pensioners, but I can't think of anyone who tiptoes around the subject with one tenth the terror of the average legacy leaflet.

Several things come to mind, if you're on a shoestring - first is picking five or six of your likely prospects who have called or written to the charity recently, and ask them their opinion. It'd be a very small sample, but enough for you to gauge whether you should break out the black crepe or scour the photo library for pictures of grinning pensioners.

Second would be to go through your list (if you have one) of people who have already left you a legacy, and ask them to write a letter for you. A letter that says "I did it, and this is why - why don't you join me?" is probably going to outclass the most elegantly crafted letter from a fundraiser.

And I wouldn't worry about publishing a will-making guide - the key things can be summed up on a sheet of A4, and still leave three quarters of it blank. Save the money, write to a few more people.