As we enter a new year, it’s the perfect moment to reflect on our progress and set our intentions for the year ahead. This passed year was marked by exciting milestones, including hosting the annual Legavision conference in Madrid, where legacy campaign leaders from various countries came together to exchange learnings and insights. A highlight was welcoming the French campaign Testament Solidaire into our circle, signaling the growth of legacy giving in France but also our collective international efforts of making legacy giving the social norm.
As we look to 2025, three areas emerge as inspiration for fostering more impactful legacy giving:
1) Revitalising Joint Efforts: The Fresh Restart of Toegift.nl – The Dutch National Legacy Campaign
There are now 25 national legacy campaigns worldwide, and that number continues to grow for a good reason: changing the social norm around legacy giving can only be achieved collectively by raising public awareness. A good example is the Dutch campaign Toegift.nl, launched in 2017, which has been highly successful, increasing the percentage of people including one or more charities in their wills from 4.5% to 7.5%. As with any campaign or organisation, it is important to keep innovating, and Toegift.nl did just that in 2024. New campaign materials were introduced, featuring authentic conversations between parents and their adult children about the beauty of leaving not only a legacy to their children but also to causes close to their hearts.
Inspired by the Belgian campaign Testament.be, Toegift.nl also launched a guide on legacy giving, which has already been requested over 5,000 in only 5 months. A new website with an improved user experience was launched, and a mix of PR alongside TV and radio campaigns ensured the message reached millions of Dutch people aged 50 and over.
This revitalisation led to 30 new charity members joining the campaign in just one year, making it even larger than it began in 2017. Looking ahead, staying relevant is key. Next, the campaign plans to build on this success by positioning itself as an independent knowledge platform for legacy giving. In 2025, it aims to develop more strategic partnerships with stakeholders such as solicitors, charity desks, and wealth advisors, ensuring its ongoing impact in the years to come.
2) Honoring Lives, Building Legacies: The Power of In-Memory Giving
In the UK it’s already well known: In-Memory Giving – donations made in honor of a loved one – has proven to be a powerful driver of legacy gifts. Research shows that donors with an in-memory connection to a cause are three times more likely to leave a gift in their will, and these gifts tend to be 66% larger than average. In 2019, 40% of legacy donors in the UK reported that at least one gift in their will was made in memory of a loved one.
Health organizations often benefit most, with donations linked to the care they provided to the deceased. Similarly, “Loved-in-Life” organizations -those representing the deceased’s values or passions, seeing growth in in-memory donations. To maximize this opportunity, charities should integrate in-memory elements into legacy campaigns next to setting up strategies to stimulate a gift in honor of a deceased loved person, including tribute funds for ongoing donations, and personalized memorial products. By connecting in-memory motives with legacy giving, charities can inspire meaningful, impactful gifts while honoring the memory of loved ones.
3) Unlocking the Potential of High-Value Legacy Gifts
High-value legacy gifts are transformational, often accounting for a substantial share of legacy income. For example, in the UK, legacy gifts over £250k represented 30% of income in 2022/23, though they came from just 2% of donors. In the Netherlands, 2023 saw a notable increase in legacy income among some charities, driven by a handful of large gifts. This highlights the outsized impact that high-value legacy gifts can have on charities’ work.
While some charities view these gifts as unpredictable windfalls, others have proven that those gifts can be strategically cultivated. To unlock the potential of high-value legacies, charities must adopt a dual approach: mass-market campaigns for broad legacy engagement, coupled with targeted strategies for affluent donors. High-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) and asset-rich individuals leaving their estates to charity require distinct approaches. Building strong relationships, understanding their motivations, and collaborating with philanthropy teams to align lifetime giving with legacy giving are essential steps. What can we learn from organizations that receive these transformative gifts more frequently? How can we stimulate those within our strategic approach? By investing in more knowledge, we can turn high-value legacies into a consistent and significant source of funding for the future.
In-Memory Insight 2019, Legacy Foresight, Legacy Futures
In-Memory Insight 2023, Legacy Foresight, Legacy Futures
December 2024
Foto door RDNE Stock project
