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Legacy Marketing Can Be Simple

Howard Lake

Howard Lake | 3 May 2013 | News

Legacy marketing can be simple or it can be mind-bogglingly complicated. Of course, for charities like Cancer Research and the British Heart Foundation, which receive millions of pounds each year from bequests left to them by their supporters, marketing Legacies is almost an industry in its own right. But for smaller charities and membership organisations it really can be a simple process. If you follow these guidelines you should not go too far wrong:

1) Tell your members that you accept and welcome legacies.
2) Explain why the funds are so important and what you will do with them.
3) ALWAYS use response-marketing techniques so you know who is thinking about leaving you a legacy.
4) Ask those who have expressed an interest or requested a brochure if they would pledge to leave a legacy.
5) Communicate regularly with pledgers and ask them for their input.
6) Consider specific projects and ring-fencing money to fund them. 
 
Most people who leave legacies to charities tend to leave to a number of different charities rather than to just one. To ensure that your organisation is given due consideration make your case strongly and convincingly. 
 
Andrew Atiyah
The CGL
www.thecgl.co.uk/membership-services

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Howard Lake

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.

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