Remember A Charity Week – who’s doing what
Melanie May | 14 September 2023 | News
It’s Remember A Charity Week, with charities across the UK talking to supporters, staff and volunteers, as well as the wider public about legacy giving.
If your charity is looking for inspiration for how to engage people internally and externally, here’s a short round up of some of the activity that’s been going on this week.
It’s #RememberACharityWeek, a week where people are encouraged to think about leaving a gift in their Will.
We asked supporters Karen, Richard, and Admiral Nurse Ruby, what they want to be remembered for.
To find out more, get our Gifts in Wills Guide: https://t.co/VaXMNU1MeE pic.twitter.com/38SRXXaee7Advertisement
— Dementia UK (@DementiaUK) September 12, 2023
Dementia UK has interviewed three of its supporters about what they want to be remembered for to share in a social media video.
RNIB discussed the Week and legacy giving on RNIB Connect, its radio station, with its Senior Legacy Income Manager Daniel Pepper. Daniel also shared what the charity’s legacy team do, the value of gifts in Wills for RNIB, and some of the more unusual gifts it has come across.
Remember A Charity Week fever has hit Christian Aid – earlier in the week, the charity said it had started the day with themed prayers, interrupted a weekly update meeting with an Remember A Charity takeover (maracas and all!), put together 100 goody bags ahead of its Will Clinic for staff and was then off to Edinburgh to engage its Scotland team with all things legacies. It is also promoting its free Will-writing service.
As part of its activity for this week, Sand Dams Worldwide ran a legacy giving team quiz as part of its internal training on legacy giving. It has also run a free webinar on legacy giving for anyone interested in finding out more, and will be launching an appeal featuring stories from two community members from southeast Kenya whose sand dam project was funded by a legacy gift from one of its supporters, as well as running a fun word search.
Essex Wildlife Trust has been running a number of different activities to engage staff as Lizzy Steward, its Legacy Officer, has been sharing on LinkedIn. These include talking at a staff day about the importance of leaving a gift in your Will and sharing a video of a pledger and volunteer, giving centre managers bookmarks to give out at the charity’s visitor centres and making sure everyone receives a copy of its internal guide for staff & volunteers. The charity also held an ‘Ask the Legacy Officer’ event at its Hanningfield Nature Discovery Centre. It’s also launched a Free Wills service via Guardian Angel.
Helping to raise awareness, Marie Curie has been handing out bookmarks at its Chilwell community hub where it has a shop.
Child Poverty Action Group is sharing the story of Mike on its site, and across social media. A supporter since the 70s, he tells why he’s decided to leave the charity a gift in his Will.
University Hospitals Birmingham Charity is holding a stand today in the atrium of Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham to talk to people about leaving a gift and how it can help with Will writing.
RNLI is myth-busting this week on social media, with some True or False posts about legacies – like ‘It costs a lot to leave a gift in your Will’, and ‘Stats show people who leave a gift to charity in their Will live longer’.
And here’s a video from Remember A Charity’s own ad campaign, launched for this year’s Remember A Charity Week. Be Remembered focuses on the stories, funny moments, and quirky hobbies people are remembered for – and how they’ll be remembered for even more because they’ve left a charity a gift in their Will.
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.