General Fundraising

Assuring the future

Legacies have played a significant role in creating and transforming educational institutions, yet many development professionals overlook this potentially largest source of philanthropic income, writes Sean Rainey

There are a number of generalisations that explain why legacy fundraising is struggling to find its way to the top of most development directors’ list of things to do:
• most development offices tend to be small and there is considerable pressure to raise money for current priorities with lifetime-giving taking precedence over all forms of giving, to the detriment, and often exclusion, of legacies;
• many development professionals in schools do not feel confident when talking to potential donors about legacy-giving;
• many key individuals within schools (bursar, headmaster, governors) are not fully aware of the potential and cost-effectiveness of legacy fundraising; and
• for many schools, the legacy brochure is the legacy strategy. A periodic mailing to selected age groups, with little or no follow-up, is often the only form of legacy fundraising undertaken.

Yet legacy fundraising is the most cost-effective and simplest form of fundraising available to us, promising large returns from few people. It is time that all schools review the opportunities.

Nothing ventured
The vast majority of people making a will in the UK leave no money to charity, so the legacy market is still largely untapped. Despite the fact that so few people make charitable bequests, legacy income is of enormous importance to many of the UK’s charities, providing over £1.6 billion each year. Charitable will donations are responsible for generating more than 40 per cent of the income for the top ten charities alone. Legacy income is the largest source of income available from individuals; it is seven times the support given by companies and is the same as the income from all grant-giving trusts.

Although the number of charitable legacies in the UK is low, they have been increasing by approximately 3 per cent each year, and charitable bequests to educational institutions have had an average annual growth of 16 per cent over the past four years.

The key to legacy fundraising is regularly reminding your former students and staff about the opportunity to support your school in this way. The legacy message should be integrated into all development and alumni relations activities. The additional cost of doing this is negligible but the potential benefits can be immense.

It is important that you target, and where possible personalise, your legacy mailings and they should be aimed at your constituents at retirement age or older. Although many alumni write their first wills in their 30s and 40s, the final wills that name charitable recipients are usually made by people in their 70s. The reason is that potential donors are increasingly hesitant to pledge money in their 40s, 50s and even 60s because of concerns over how they will support longer life spans (perhaps factoring in three decades of income needs) and potential healthcare costs. Indeed, in the US, recent reports indicate more charitable bequests come from people who die in their 90s than those in their 70s.

Nothing gained
Your legacy mailings should look and feel bright and breezy. Dull, poorly targeted materials are unlikely to solicit a legacy gift and, in some cases, can deter individuals from giving. Focus on the emotive part of the information (ie how a legacy can make a difference to your school), then briefly cover the practicalities of making a legacy commitment (eg suggested wording for a will). Too many schools’ legacy brochures focus on promoting the mechanism of writing a will rather than on the cause.

The perceived level of family needs appears to be the greatest barrier to making a charitable gift in a will. Acknowledge that family and loved ones come first, and invite the donor to leave a residual bequest to your school.
Residual legacies (where someone leaves a percentage of their estate rather than a fixed amount) should be
favoured as these bequests tend to be significantly larger.

Keep it clear
Readability is a crucial issue for legacy fundraising materials as your target audience consists of older readers.
Keep to the following:
• use a large and clear typeface, either 13 or 14-point type;
• use italics rarely or not at all. When you want to emphasise a point, use bold, a different font, or underline it if it is not too long;
• keep sentences, paragraphs and line lengths short;
• use high contrast – the crispness of the text and design against the paper are vital for readability; and
• use lots of photographs and minimal text.

The right channels
School newsletters, annual reports and other external and internal communication tools provide excellent avenues for promoting giving in general and for legacies in particular.

Features in your alumni newsletter might include:
• stories of legacies making a difference at your school;
• features on legators and volunteers;
• a running total of legacy income and pledges to the school; and
• a history of legacies at the school.

Introduce an advertisement for legacies in the inside back cover of your alumni newsletter: older alumni generally
spend more time reading these publications. Specific features and advertisements in every edition will help educate alumni and inspire them to include your school in their estate plans. Similar features should also regularly appear on your school’s website, since increasing numbers of older alumni are now active online.

Keep talking
Don’t be afraid to talk about legacies at reunions and on visits to older alumni. Many people are unaware that they can support a school in this way. You don’t have to be a legal expert to talk about legacies; indeed you should leave all legal advice and information to a solicitor.

Your conversation with a prospective legacy donor is no different to that with a prospective lifetime donor; the only
difference is in the way they give. Schools do not realise the potential of legacy-giving from alumni, staff and friends; development directors, bursars, heads and governors must give greater priority to it. To quote George Smith’s Asking Properly – The Art of Creative Fundraising: “We need to talk about legacies everywhere. We need to stop apologising for raising the issue. We need to infuse our activities with a sense of purpose, a sense of excitement.”

Sean Rainey is development director at Headington School, Oxford. He was previously head of legacies and planned giving at the University of Oxford.

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