How to Launch a Legacy Giving Campaign for Your Charity

Introducing your supporters to the concept of Legacy Giving is a good way to engage with them on so many levels.

• It’s an opportunity to give back by providing useful information about the most daunting of life admin tasks.
• It’s also an opportunity to convince your supporters to commit to your cause for the long term, by remembering you when writing their Will.

That said, don’t overlook the potential benefits of Legacy Giving for your charity. It can be an effective way of maintaining your ability to continue your work in the long term. It can provide stability and enable you to plan for the future of your charity’s projects and activities.

So, Legacy Giving deserves a marketing campaign of its own and ought to be approached with sensitivity. Here, we’ve put together four key factors to address when creating a marketing campaign for Legacy Giving.

Provide an incentive

Most people wouldn’t feel inclined to consider writing a Will unless they have a good incentive. Giving them the incentive will just be a reminder of the necessity for doing so. You’ll want to outline the necessities of writing a Will, whether these are:

• Legal – I.e. passing on intestate can often make the process of inheritance difficult, longwinded and expensive for inheritors.
• Or religious – I.e. Muslims are advised to settle their affairs and not to let ‘two nights pass without writing a Will’ about anything they have to bequest (al-Bukhari).

Outline the benefits

You should explain just how much of a difference a gift in their Will can make to the work of your charity. But you should also outline the personal benefits to the donor. These include:

• The religious rewards, ie Sadaqah Jariyah – an ongoing charity with ongoing rewards for the deceased.
• The inheritance tax benefits for the donor’s family after they’ve passed on. This will give them an incentive to want to find out more about the process.

Provide useful information

Most people wouldn’t know the first place to start when it comes to writing a Will. So, any information about the legal necessities, processes, and even issues related to inheritance tax will be more than welcome.

Think about creating a free information pack they can download from your site, or even better, request in the post. This way, you can keep track of interested supporters even if they don’t act immediately.

Refer them to legal support

You’ll want to find a professional Wills and Estate Planning lawyer to work with at this point, preferably one that specialises in Islamic Wills. This will be a way to give back to supporters who don’t already have a family lawyer. It will also demonstrate credibility on your part.

But do let your supporters know that seeking legal advice from the specialists you refer them to doesn’t place them under any obligation to leave you a gift in their Will and that the advice they receive will be entirely impartial.

If you need help finding professional legal firms with this skillset, we can help put you in touch with a few who work with some of our charity clients and their supporters.

To conclude

And there you have it. Covering the factors above should ensure your Legacy Giving campaign is a success with your supporters. But don’t forget, this topic needs to be approached with the utmost sensitivity!

You don’t want to sound callous about someone’s death and you certainly don’t want to sound opportunistic. You’ll want to work with a professional copywriter who can nail the subtle nuances in language and tone. If you don’t have one in-house, we can help.

Our Comms team of writers have experience in creating successful Legacy Giving campaigns for several Muslim charities. Get in touch to find out how we can support you.