Giving money to a charity in your will is only something you will do when you really love that charity. And real love often don’t come easily…
Over the years I have gathered a handful of foreign female friends and if I may believe them, besides the ridiculous amount of rain, they think Amsterdam is super beautiful. The Dutch themselves are according to them, sociable, tolerant, and open-minded. But nevertheless also direct, businesslike and economical. So the chance of being hit on by a Dutchman is, according to them, just as big as snowball’s chance in hell.
Talking about love, looking at legacy fundraising, it is not hard to make a comparison. You have to be in someone’s heart if you want to be in someone’s will. It is not without reason that wills mainly contain life partners and children.
Legacy fundraising programs in the Netherlands differ. Some are very inspiring, and others less so. Much communication is based on content about practical tips and, above all, on conversion. Using surveys and telemarketing, asking how someone stands with regard to donating to this charity is a strategy mainly used. Certainly suitable means for your cultivation flow, but more is needed if you want to make better use of the tremendous potential legacy fundraising has right now.
If you take a closer look at the legacies, your organization has received so far, big chance you see that half of your estates come from out of your database and half of them outside. And less than 10% out of your legacy cultivation funnel. Even if you have invested a lot in telemarketing and surveys last years, most people don’t participate. A majority of respondents don’t want to make their interest or pledge visible to a charity, especially Babyboomers: no strains attached.
But still, at some crucial moment, the testator decided to include your organization and acted accordingly. So looking at the legacies you received over the years, there was somehow a love for your cause. So going to a notary and arrange this is not an impulsive act and therefore a logical consequence in a “relationship” that often started decades ago, visible or invisible.
It is not without reason that legacy fundraisers find it so important that an organization is showing itself, makes noise about what it stands for, has a supporter-central integrated engagement strategy, and makes a reassuring voice heard both within and outside its constituency. A sound that resonates with the ideals of the legacy prospects.
That is precisely why it is so important that organisations work on their engagement and be inspiringly visible with your legacy proposition for a more extended period so that someone can move at their own pace to a positive mindset about leaving a will to your organization: You can’t hurry love. Because if we are not careful, we as fundraisers only focus calculative on the visible parts and exceed our most significant challenge: seducing and building relationships before we ask somebody’s hand.
Elly Lont, Mrt 2021
