We had the joy to talk with Marc Pesch, Major Gifts Officer and Legacy Manager at Stichting Vluchteling (Netherlands Refugee Foundation) about his experiences in legacy fundraising relationship management.<\/p>\n
legacygiving.eu: How did you end up working in legacy fundraising?<\/em><\/p>\n Marc Pesch: I have been working at Stichting Vluchteling since 2018 as a relationship manager for major donors and foundations. Initially, legacy giving was not part of my portfolio, but two years in, a colleague left, and due to understaffing, the responsibility fell to me. My first thought was: ‘Given my already full portfolio, do I even have the capacity to take this on?’ That was until fundraising consultant Lena Vizy pointed out that this is actually one of the most rewarding aspects of the profession. And she was right. Together with Legacy Futures, we developed a professional proposition to establish a solid approach to legacy fundraising. The portfolio eventually grew so significantly that we had to hire an additional colleague. At that point, I actually found it difficult to hand over the portfolio\u2014I had become so attached to the personal connections and the remarkable stories shared by those who chose to leave a bequest.<\/p>\n legacygiving.eu: How do major gift fundraising and legacy fundraising relate to one another?<\/em><\/p>\n Marc Pesch: These two worlds are incredibly close and constantly reinforce each other. Someone who makes major gifts during their lifetime is often also inclined to include a charity in their will. Conversely, there are people who may give very modest amounts while alive, but leave a substantial sum upon their passing\u2014for instance, from the equity in their home. At its core, you aren’t just a ‘hard-nosed’ fundraiser; you are a relationship manager. If you invest in genuine, long-lasting relationships, these two worlds naturally come together.
\nlegacygiving.eu: How do you put this relationship management into practice? Marc Pesch: A good example involves an elderly donor who wanted to sell his house immediately to free up funds for us and two other heirs. While a purely transaction-oriented fundraiser might have said ‘yes’ right away, I was completely honest with him: ‘I think that\u2019s a bad idea.’ You should only move if your home has become too large, if you can no longer manage the stairs, or simply because you want a more comfortable life\u2014not because we, as an organization, happen to need money right now. He was incredibly surprised by this honesty; he told me I was the first person to ever say such a thing to him. Because the donor\u2019s well-being was prioritized, a deep bond of trust was formed. That same evening, he called and spontaneously donated an additional \u20ac10,000\u2014while still keeping the foundation in his will. To me, that is the essence of ‘friend-raising.’<\/p>\n