Charities spend too much time talking and thinking about themselves rather than the donor when they try to raise legacy funding, an Institute of Fundraising conference heard yesterday.
Chris Millward, chief executive of the Institute of Legacy Management, was speaking yesterday at the Institute of Fundraising’s Legacy Summit. He said it was important “to shift the narrative” in terms of legacy fundraising.
“As a sector we talk too much about us,” he said. “When people leave a gift in their will, they want to know about the impact it will make to the world. So we shouldn’t talk about ‘we’ and ‘our’. We have to talk about ‘you’ and ‘yours’.
“We have to shift that narrative. And not just talk about it but do it,” he said.
“As legacy fundraisers, there is something that quite often it feels a bit like Oliver saying ‘please Sir can I have some more’. We go with the begging bowl when we ask people to help.
“But what we haven’t necessarily done is think about how we can help ‘them’. We can go to people with solutions to the problems they already have and we can help them to deliver against the targets and strategies that they are trying to deliver against. I think we can have a much more fruitful conversation.”
Millward said it was important to encourage legacy giving by inspiring donors rather than focusing on how they can overcome barriers to leave a gift in their will.
“The important word is inspiration,” he said. “I don’t think you need to talk about things like tax breaks - if you can inspire people to want to support our cause and focus on the difference that their legacy gift can make, they will want to do it so much that they will overcome the barriers,” he said.
Millward said the ILM was looking forward to working with the IoF Standards Committee to build on its relationship with sector bodies “like the Law Society, HMRC, and the Law Commission to ensure that the rules and best practice guidance around legacy management are brought into the Code of Fundraising Practice so that we can ensure every charitable legacy gift achieves its greatest potential".
“Charities rely on us to ensure that the £2bn of legacy gifts received each year are managed in accordance with donors’ wishes and in compliance with the law,” he said.
‘Pleased’
Earlier in the day, Rob Cope, director of Remember A Charity, said he was pleased the IoF Standards Committee had committed to working with the Institute of Legacy Management to develop and improve existing Code and guidance to include best practice around how estates are administered.
“Those of us involved in legacy fundraising and management look forward to working with Standards Committee to review this section of the Code,” he said.
“A third of people in the UK say they are happy to leave a gift to a charity in their will, but only 7 per cent currently do. Better understanding their supporters enables charities to reach those who would like to support their favourite cause in this way."
