Wootton George survey reveals barriers to legacy fundraising
Howard Lake | 18 October 2010 | News
Wootton George Consulting, the strategy and fundraising consultancy, has released its survey findings on the barriers that prevent more charities from raising funds from legacies.
52 UK charities completed the survey in August and September 2010. Wootton George found that the key barriers were:
1) Lack of knowledge about legacy fundraising (20%);
2) Lack of internal capacity (16%), and
3) A short term fundraising focus (14%).
When asked what it would take for their charities to be more proactive in this area, the responses were
1) More staff capacity (24%);
2) A more strategic approach (22%);
3) More knowledge about legacy fundraising (20).
Of the sample which completed the survey, 75% of the charities already received legacies, either regularly or at least occasionally. However, only 43% of the sample was active in seeking legacies, showing that 32% benefited from legacy donations without even seeking them.
The survey’s author, Simon George, said: “The findings were very revealing in a number of ways. We had expected to see more prominence given to a lack of strategic focus and short term thinking, especially in a recession, perhaps coupled with a lack of appreciation of the legacy potential among trustees. However, we found that the main issues preventing more charities being proactive about legacies were a lack of knowledge combined with a lack of staff capacity.
“The findings point to a need for more education and training on legacy fundraising in the sector, together with the need for charities to dedicate more staff time to legacy work, either by relinquishing other activities or investing in additional capacity.”
A free copy of the full report is available upon request from Simon George.
www.wgconsulting.co.uk
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.