Donor Recognition Pays

On holiday in Devon recently, I visited the Donkey Sanctuary, famous for its legacy income. Two things struck me. Firstly, entry was free – a great way to attract new donors from around the country. Secondly, on the walls around the site were huge boards naming their legacy donors, year by year.  They were unmissable and listed the many hundreds of people who have remembered this charity in their wills. So what can we learn from this?

The Donkey Sanctuary calls these boards its Memory Wall and, although it does not make a big play of it in its legacy promotion, it must be having an effect, as legacies account for over £18 million of its £27 million income.

This got me thinking again about how we thank and recognise our legacy donors. Charities do this in many different ways, from the traditional books of remembrance, to plaques on the wall, tree planting, lists in annual reports and, more recently, on their web pages.

What struck me at the Donkey Sanctuary was this very public form of recognition and how it no doubt also functions as a prompt to visitors to leave a legacy. So a combination of free entry, a good visitor experience and public recognition has been very effective in securing donations, including legacies, for this charity. No doubt there are other factors (strong case for support, effective communications programme etc), but this high profile recognition must be significant.

The question then is whether your charity is making the most of its opportunities to thank and recognise its special donors. You may not have any fluffy donkeys or even space for a memory wall, but maybe you have some other opportunities you to be developed? Maybe it is time to review this aspect of your legacy campaign and consider some imaginative ways of thanking and recognising donors?

Developing a Legacy Culture

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.

New Guide to Legacy Fundraising

A new guide is published this week in a series of e-books about managing and fundraising for charities.

The Charity First Series, published by the Social Marketing Partnership, is a new range of practical guides to help charities - especially smaller organisations - to improve their game. The series tackles some important issues, such as legacy fundraising, prospect research and major gift fundraising. Further titles are planned for 2012.

Published at just £7.99 each, they are an affordable way for smaller organisations to access expertise in these areas.

The guides can be puchased as downloadable pdf's here:
http://www.spmfundessentials.org/titles/

No Will - No Legacy

A good friend of mine is currently enduring the nightmare of trying to sort out the affairs of an aged relative who has died intestate. It is the last thing she needs and is very frustrating, as the relative in question had been told by all around her to make a will but never did. Now she has left a mess to be unravelled and the corresponding expense of paying a solicitor to sort it out. To cap it all, my friend has got all the responsibility of registering the death and arranging a funeral, while distant relatives who cared little for the aunt, and were essentially estranged from her, are now showing great interest in their former relative's affairs.

So what do such situations tell us? Obviously it reinforces the need to make a will, not least for the sake of those left behind and to protect the value of the estate from legal fees. Secondly, making a will can reduce a lot of stress in families by determining who gets what and avoiding arguments (my friend has had to keep a detailed account of her expenses, which will certainly be strutinised by the aunt's beneficiaries). Finally of course, without a will there will be no charitable legacy. The irony is that the aunt was estranged from her sister and had not seen those who will inherit her estate for many years. A legacy to charity would arguably have been a much better choice for her, a charity and my friend.

Legacy fundraising practice used to involve reminding people to make a will and warning them of the consequences of not doing so, with a legacy request bolted on. Things have moved on a lot in the last 20 years and we know that most targets of legacy messages already have a will, even if it may need updating. However, I wonder if we have thrown the baby out with the bath water? Could there still be a place for warning people of the nightmares they are creating for relatives by not making a will (and of course in the process remind them that they can also remember their favourite charities)?

We should obviously not overdo the doom and gloom - legacy fundraising needs to be a positive business after all - but I do wonder if the odd salutory reminder can still focus the minds of recalcitrant prospects who do no one any favour by omitting to make a will?

Will Writers in Question

The Legal Services Ombudsman Adam Sampson has warned consumers against using unregulated providers of legal services such as will writers, because they are often not insured and provide no compensation if they get things wrong.

In contrast, solicitors are regulated by the Law Society and must also carry insurance to cover any claims made against them. Ultimately, they can be struck off if found guilty of malpractice, but of course they charge more.

The reasons people use will-writers are largely because they are cheaper than qualified solicitors and because they will make home visits to take instructions from clients (although of course many solicitors now do this too).

My gut feeling is that will-writers are used mainly by people who buy on price not quality (although admittedly this is something of a generalisation). Those with larger estates, including many of those in the market for a residuary legacy, are more likely to be people who use a family solicitor and not a will-writer.

So what is the implication of all this for legacy fundraising? The danger with the Ombudsman's report is that for some people it may create another barrier to leaving a legacy, which is not what any charity needs. If will-writers really are the subject of so many complaints, then perhaps campaigns should point people very firmly to using a solicitor?

The ideal scenario is probably where a solicitor is prepared to offer some discount or even a free will for your supporters. Then they get regulated advice, backed up by compensation if things go wrong, and hopefully will be grateful to your charity for helping them sort out their affairs. Certainly, there is less chance in these circumstances that the will is poorly drafted or invalid - probably a price worth paying to keep supporters happy and maintin the integrity of your campaign?

New Incentive for Legacy Donors

In this week's budget, the Chancellor has handed legacy fundraisers a gift by incentivising legacies as a form of donation.

Although he left the inheritance tax nil rate band frozen until April 2015 (which might be seen as mean spirited), he did announce that a reduced rate of inheritance tax (IHT) will apply where 10% or more of a deceased’s net estate (after deducting IHT exemptions, reliefs and the nil rate band) is left to charity. In those cases the current 40% rate will be reduced to 36%. The new rate will apply where death occurs on or after 6 April 2012.

What this means is that we as legacy fundraisers now have a new "donor motivator" to use in our campaigns.

The proposition is that "if you leave this charity a legacy of 10% of your estate, you will benefit from a 10% reduction in your inheritance tax rate".

Although this sounds better than it really is in financial terms (as 10% of the net estate after deductions will of course be more in cash terms than the reduction in IHT) it should still be a valuable incentive for those people motivated by a desire to pay less tax.

On its own, this move is unlikely to result in a huge growth in legacy giving, but it is nevertheless a useful addition to the legacy tool box and, for some people, should be enough to persuade them that a legacy is worth considering.

At a tactical level, it also gives legacy fundraisers another reason to talk to donors about legacies and to update them on the latest rules. We need to make the most of this opportunity!

Barriers to Legacy Fundraising Revealed

So here we have it - the reasons why so many small and medium sized charities miss out on legacies.

Our survey of 52 charities looked at what was stopping them from maximising legacies and found the two main reasons were a) lack of knowledge and understanding of what to do and b) lack of staff capacity to do it. In third place came a lack of strategic focus.

This was slightly surprising, given all the opportunities for training on legacies and the fact that there is so much information available these days. I had also expected the lack of strategic focus to play more of a role.

The lack of capacity is a harder problem to fix, especially when so many charities are struggling to stand still at the moment. Perhaps there is a link here to the third reason (lack of strategic focus)? If legacies were seen as a strategic priority, then maybe the staff capacity would be found, in lieu of other less profitable activities?

The learning from the survey is clear. The sector needs to make legacy education more of a priority and charities themselves need to address the capacity issue, either by reconfiguring their fundraising activities to include legacies or by seeking external support. The legacy opportunity is just too great to do nothing!

The full report on our survey can be read at:

www.wgconsulting.co.uk/news