Remember A Charity reaches 200th member milestone
Melanie May | 26 October 2017 | News
Remember A Charity has welcomed its 200th member to its consortium this month: Shine Charity.
Established as the Legacy Promotion Group by a steering group including five charities in 2000, Remember A Charity’s 200 members now include the ten largest charities by legacy income (those raising over £700 million through legacies annually) through to an increasing number of small, community-based organisations.
Since it was established, the consortium’s work has included:
- Lobbying government to make legacies a key theme of the 2012 Giving White Paper and a core part of the Government’s giving agenda going forward.
- Behavioural research trials with solicitors showing that referencing the option of leaving a charitable bequest can treble the number of gifts made and working with the legal community to incorporate this approach into Will-writing practice.
- Signing up more than 1,100 solicitors and Will-writers to its Campaign Supporter scheme and encouraging all legal advisers to promote legacy giving to clients, with tracking research indicating that 72% of legal advisers now discuss the tax benefits of legacy giving with clients (up from 61% in 2009 according to nfpSynergy).
- Ongoing public awareness drives for legacy giving, including the annual Remember A Charity Week.
It has also run a number of successful public awareness campaigns including its first on TV: Michael Buerk’s “I will. Will you?”, “Take A Moment”, and Greg Wallace’s Café de Mort, while this year’s Remember A Charity in Your Will Week saw DJ Emperor Rosko return to the airwaves with the launch of Last Pirate FM.
[youtube height=”450″width=”800″]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Mu02ciPOS0[/youtube]
In its time, the proportion of UK Wills that include a charitable gift has increased: rising by 31% between 2007 and 2016, while Legacy Foresight’s latest figures show that legacies now account for 14% of all the fundraised income received by UK charities, with a worth of £2.8bn a year.
On becoming the 200th member, Shine Charity Chief Executive, Kate Steele said:
“By being part of the Remember A Charity campaign, Shine will be part of a movement to grow our legacy giving now and into the future, working alongside fellow charities to raise awareness and promote the importance of gifts in wills to our supporters and the wider public.
“Shine is delighted to be recognised as the 200th member. Such high membership is testament to the faith that the third sector has in the work of Remember A Charity, and recognition of the importance and potential to grow legacy giving for the benefit of so many.”Advertisement
Emma Bockhop, Remember A Charity Membership & Supporter Development Manager said:
“The size and diversity of the consortium’s membership are critical success factors for the campaign. A broad base brings a wide range of insights and experiences and makes our collective voice more powerful. Crucially, it also extends the reach and relevance of our messages and influencing work, bringing us ever closer to achieving our goal of normalising legacy giving. We thank all our members for their support and encourage other charities to come on board to help achieve our shared goal even more quickly.”
History of Remember A Charity
2000 – Formation of Legacy Promotion Group.
2001 – Establishment of Steering Group.
2002 – Public launch and awareness drive commences (86 charities).
2003 – 100th charity joins.
2005 – First national TV advertising campaign takes place (Michael Buerk: “I will. Will you?”)
2007 – Social marketing research commissioned into the drivers of behaviour change. The results form the basis of the consortium’s future strategy for legacy promotion.
2009 – Launch of social marketing advertising campaign ‘Make your last wishes something to remember’, seeing a lighter and more humorous approach employed for future campaigns. A pilot campaign for Remember A Charity Week takes place.
2010 – Remember A Charity Week established as an annual awareness week for charitable legacies.
2012 – Lobbying programme succeeds in making legacies a central theme of the giving white paper, with legacies having been notably absent in the previous white paper (2011).
2012 – Re-launch of Campaign Solicitor scheme sees more than 1,000 solicitors and Will-writers commit to highlighting the option of giving to charity with clients.
2013 – Cabinet Office Behavioural Insights Team research published showing the impact of how solicitors reference charitable giving in the Will-writing process on legacy giving behaviour.
2014 – New Remember A Charity strategy implemented, setting ambitious targets of achieving 16% of Wills to include a charitable donations.
2017 – 200th member joins (Shine Charity)
About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.