Wootton George Consulting investigates barriers to legacy fundraising
Howard Lake | 27 July 2010 | News
Strategy and fundraising consultancy Wootton George Consulting is trying to find out what prevents more charities from raising funds from legacies. It is inviting charities to complete an online survey.
With average gift levels of £3,500 for cash legacies and £35,000 for shares of estates, legacy fundraising is of course one of the most productive methods of fundraising. It can achieve a ratio of return of around £50:£1.
Despite this, many charities still have no legacy strategy in place at all, or carry out legacy fundraising in a rather ad hoc way, according to Wootton George. Simon George, Director of the agency, suggests it is most often the small and medium size charities that miss out on this method of fundraising.
“It does not make sense”, he said, “that charities will invest large sums in other areas of fundraising, yet effective legacy work is often regarded as the poor relation and starved of investment, when even a modest campaign can bring big rewards.
“We are seeking to identify what the barriers are and to empower fundraisers to overcome them. Whether it is trustee ignorance, risk aversion, simple inertia or just down to a short term focus, we hope to gain a better understanding of what is stopping more charities winning their share of the legacy cake. We hope this will enable them to recognise why they are missing out and what steps they should take.”
Charities can take part in the survey at:
www.surveymonkey.com/s/8T6WJSX
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.