Four tips to improve your legacy fundraising

Did you know that charities in England and Wales are left approximately 3.5 billion pounds from people’s wills each year?

This figure comes from the Legacy Trends Report 2021 from legacy experts Smee & Ford, and they predict it’ll keep growing.

And it’s not just the big charities that are benefitting. One in five charities mentioned in a will is community-based.

Is your charity lacking in legacy income? It might be time to rework your strategy.

Here are four top tips.

1. Consider your phrasing

Legacy asks are tough for three reasons.

• People don’t like to contemplate their own mortality

Sure, legacies are technically about dying, but they’re also about our lives, values, and the impact we want to have on the world. That’s the message to focus on sending.

• Many of us associate ‘legacy’ with a grand gesture

Although ‘legacy’ means ‘an amount of money or property left to someone in a will’, people tend to associate it with substantial amounts of money.

This is why a growing number of charities are using the word ‘gift’ instead.

A ‘gift’ doesn’t have to be particularly big or life-changing.

Change your wording and you may well see an influx of smaller but equally as valuable gifts.

2. Be sensitive

No matter how you cut it, legacy fundraising involves you benefitting from the death of an individual.

That;’s not to say it’s bad to accept or ask for legacies. But it does mean you need to be sensitive with your marketing.

Messaging that’s perceived as celebrating someone’s death, for instance, is going to come across as insensitive.

Focus on celebrating the individual’s generosity and commitment to your cause.

3. Drip feed your message

Legacy marketing can be triggering, particularly if it catches people off guard.

Legacy Voice suggests the best way to tackle this is to ‘drip-feed your legacy message’.

The purpose of drip-feeding is to gradually help people move through the stages of consideration until they’re at a place where they’re ready to take action.

For example, rather than overwhelming donors with big, flashy annual legacy campaigns, incorporate subtle asks in your regular comms on a more regular basis.

4. Foster emotional attachments

This applies to all fundraising efforts, but it’s especially important for legacy fundraising. After all, people can support your charity next Christmas if they’ve already chosen one for this year, but they only get one Will.

If an individual is considering leaving you a legacy, chances are they’re invested in your cause. But that doesn’t mean you can sit back and relax. A legacy donation is a big commitment from donors, so it requires a big commitment from you.

Find out what those connections are and build your communications around them.

Research from the University of Bristol shows that people are more likely to donate if there’s an emotional attachment.

Fostering that attachment may help swing their decision in your favour.

Final Word

Legacy fundraising can be challenging, but it’s well worth the investment.

If you’re looking for an experienced legacy fundraiser, we can help. Give us a call on 0203 750 3111 to get the ball rolling.

Four ways social media can turbocharge your fundraising campaigns

Social media is an indispensable tool for fundraisers. Why? Because 70% of the UK population is signed up to one or more social platforms. And, according to the Giving Report, 29% of those people consider social media to be the communication tool that most inspires giving.

This means social media isn’t a nice-to-have for your fundraising campaigns. It’s a must-have.

So, how can you use it to turbocharge your fundraising?

Here are four suggestions to get you started:

1. Add a donation button to your social media pages

If you haven’t done so already, add a ‘donate’ button to your social media page. It’ll give people a quick and easy way to donate. If you consider that 55% of people who engage with non-profits on social media end up taking some sort of action (i.e. make a donation), it’s a no-brainer.

How to add a donate button to your Facebook Page:

Click on your charity’s Facebook page

Step 1: Go to your charity's Facebook Page (must be Page admin).

Step 2: Select + Add a button from your Page header, or if you already have a CTA button, hover over it and click Edit.

Step 3: Select Donate through Facebook to let people donate directly through Facebook (you'll need to sign up for Facebook Payments).

Step 4: Click Finish. Using the Donate button to collect donations directly through Facebook is currently only available to charities on-boarded to Facebook Payments.

2. Launch a challenge 

The Ice Bucket Challenge. No makeup selfie. Movember. These are just three examples of challenges that set social media alight and raised precious pennies and awareness for charities.

The most famous is undoubtedly the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge.

First, it’s worth noting that the challenge wasn’t initiated by the charity. It was started by Patrick Quinn and Pete Frates (two US-based ALS sufferers) to draw awareness to the condition.

They posted videos of themselves doing the challenge in the summer of 2014 and before long, they’d gone viral.

Millions of people, including the likes of Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, and George Bush poured buckets of ice-cold water over their heads in the name of charity – resulting in donations of more than $115 million for the little-known charity.

Think outside the box

While there’s no guarantee you’ll be able to replicate the success of the Ice Bucket Challenge, a challenge is a simple and cost-effective way to draw attention to your cause.

What can you do to get your charity on the digital map?

3. Take advantage of live streaming

A growing number of brands are using live streaming to connect with audiences.

British social media publisher, the Lad Bible, runs a live stream once a week. They cover all sorts of random things from legendary Welsh crooner Tom Jones talking about the biggest moments of his career, to advice on how to maintain an amazing moustache.

Believe it or not, they amassed 149,000 views with this Last Lolly Standing stream.

But it’s not just commercial brands adopting live streaming. Charities are doing it too. For example, bereavement charity Sue Ryder held a live Q&A with a world-renowned running coach ahead of the London marathon, and the RNLI hosted a live Q&A with lifeboat volunteers – although it was cut short by a call out!

What can you livestream?

While we wouldn’t recommend live streaming lollies melting, there are loads of things you can do to engage with donors, such as:

• Take viewers on a tour of your office/facilities

• Interview staff, trustees, and volunteers

• A fundraising event (with behind-the-scenes footage)

4. Collaborate with Influencers

Influencer marketing is essentially an individual with a significant social media following promoting your products or services.

An example of this type of marketing is the British exercise clothing company Gym Shark. Since launching in 2012, they’ve shunned traditional marketing methods in favour of using social media influencers to promote their products.

Within seven years, the company was worth over £100 million. So, they’re doing something right.

While influencer marketing can’t be directly applied to charity fundraising, elements of it can. Using celebrity ambassadors to promote your campaign is a surefire way to get eyeballs on your page, drive engagement, and increase donations.

One charity that embraces this form of marketing is mental health charity, MIND.

During lockdown, they published a video of their ambassador Stephen Fry talking about the effect COVID-19 was having on people’s mental health on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

The video was watched and shared by thousands, bringing attention to the topical subject of mental health and the work of MIND.

Final Thoughts

The beauty of social media is its reach (Facebook alone has 44.84 million users in the UK), its low cost (in fact it’s free, unless you decide to go down the paid advertising route) and it’s easy to use.

If you want to promote a fundraising post on social media, give us a call to talk tactics today on 0203 750 3111.