graham richards legacy presentation nahf derry 09

Something old, something new,

something borrowed,

something blue:

Legacy Marketing ideas

Graham RichardsGraham Richards

Freelance Legacy FundraiserFreelance Legacy Fundraiser

We canWe can’’t afford to do that!t afford to do that!

ThatThat’’s just for the big charitiess just for the big charities

� What the major charities do:

� National & Regional Newspaper ads

� TV, Radio and Cinema ads

� Posters & Hoardings

� Direct Marketing

� Face to Face legacy fundraisers

� Events & Visits

Large campaigns = large costs!Large campaigns = large costs!

� Advertising design, printing and display costs

� Staff costs

� Media costs

� No one expects small, local charities to engage at this level

However: for all charitiesHowever: for all charities

the potential is great!the potential is great!

� With charitable bequests in 16% of all Wills

� That means 84% are still to be tapped

� Around 88% of charity supporters have already made a Will

� We need to be asking if they’ve included us?

� And tell them it’s easy to add a codicil if they haven’t!

The key point I want to makeThe key point I want to make

today is that:today is that:

Small is Bountiful!Small is Bountiful!

� Small, local charities have real advantages

� Legacy marketing doesn’t have to cost the earth

� Local knowledge is a valuable commodity to be utilised

� Local charities have local resources

The local scene:The local scene:

� Advantages:

� You’re known personally by many people

� Local people have personal experience of your services

� You have useful local contacts and networks

� There’s a strong - local - human interest

� Money raised locally is being spent locally, benefiting local people

The local scene:The local scene:

� Small can be very cost effective:� Using those local links

� Gifts in kind (i.e. free design for advertising?)

� Special rates (i.e. printing) might be possible

� Places to promote through (shops & services)

� Publications to advertise in (local papers, community magazines, etc) Ask if they have any free space and provide them with print-ready artwork to drop in.

� Utilising local services (i.e. postal round robins)

� Using your own volunteers as part of the process

The local scene:The local scene:

� Use your local knowledge to target your audiences more specifically:� Where is the most privately owned housing?

� Where are the tenant-purchased ex-council houses?

� What local companies do you have links with?

� What warm contacts do your staff & trustees know?

� Where and how are your staff working closely with local people and local organisations?

� Who are local celeb’s that have experienced your services and who might endorse you?

Legacy Marketing: the basic Legacy Marketing: the basic

messagemessage

�� What is it we are trying to get across?What is it we are trying to get across?�� ItIt’’s all about the needs all about the need

�� The benefits that can be brought aboutThe benefits that can be brought about

�� How ordinary individuals can help meet thisHow ordinary individuals can help meet this

�� Gifts in Wills, big or small, make a differenceGifts in Wills, big or small, make a difference

�� Two examples that will help us understand Two examples that will help us understand this:this:

A reclusive pensioner who lived a life of a pauper has left £6 million to a children’s hospice in his Will. Ex-surveyor, Jack Witham lived alone above a garage in a flat he stuffed with bargains he found at car boot sales. Mrs Susanne Fry, a friend of Jack’s said, “If you saw him, you wouldn’t think he had two ha’pennies to rub together.”

His gift will enable Naomi House Children’s Hospice, near Winchester, to build a new centre for seriously ill teenagers. “It’s a complete bolt out of the blue. We knew nothing about it until we received a letter from his executors,” said Hospice Manager, Ray Kipling.

The enormous donation – the biggest the hospice has ever received –was particularly surprising, because the reclusive old man was unknown to them . Mrs Fry said Mr Witham wanted to help young people and opted for Naomi House when he saw the good work they were doing . Mr Kipling added: “It has allowed us to do something brilliant. We shall be naming the new centre “Jack’s Place”.”

A small parish in Wakefield Diocese, who struggled to pay their Parish Share, faced a crisis when their ancient boiler suddenly blew up at the end of a service one Sunday morning. The cost of a new one was beyond what they could afford and pay their Parish Share at the same time. They went public about the problem , using their monthly newsletter and the local press to get the message out.

A few weeks later a local solicitor contacted them, to say they would be receiving several thousand pounds from a local lady’s Will. She was not a member of the parish church and not known to the parish priest. It turned out that the solicitor was an executor of her Will and she had left a discretionary legacy, one where the Executors are left to decide where the money shall go. Having read of the local church’s need , the solicitor put them forward as one of the recipients.

As a result, they not only got a new boiler fitted, they were able to carry out other much-needed repairs at the same time.

So, letSo, let’’s get marketing!s get marketing!

� How can you effectively market your legacy need?

� Let’s start with

1. Using existing channels of communication

� And then

2. Developing new ways of communicating

Legacy Marketing: Legacy Marketing:

using your Newsletterusing your Newsletter

� Your Newsletter:

� Goes to majority of your supporters

� It costs nothing to advertise your need in it

� It’s regular (drip, drip technique)

� Can go into more depth (features, articles)

� Can feature existing supporters (powerful message to readers, i.e. “they’re one of us”)

� Promote special initiatives “Make a Will Week”

Legacy Marketing: Legacy Marketing:

using your Newsletterusing your Newsletter

� Your Newsletter – a few Do’s & Dont’s:

� Your newsletter is good publicity for legacies if…

� It gives a balanced picture of your work, so…

� Ensure it has a mix of operational, general & F/R news

� Don’t over-use fundraising (many do and you can’t find the work of the charity in them!)

� Tell real stories about real people (even if you have to change names, keep it real)

� LEGACIES MUST FEATURE IN EVERY ISSUE!

Legacy Marketing: Legacy Marketing:

using talks to local groupsusing talks to local groups

� Talks to local groups� A great opportunity for legacy marketing

� Audiences are usually the right age group!

� Talk passionately about the charity and its wonderful work

� Let them know what it all costs

� Tell them how you raise the money

� ALWAYS END TALKING ABOUT LEGACIES

� Invite them for a visit and tour if possible

� Train your volunteers to give talks for you

Legacy Marketing: Legacy Marketing:

using your legacy administrationusing your legacy administration

� Legacy administration� Small charities often have one person doing it all

� Marketing and administration of legacies

� Be relational with executors, especially if Next of Kin� Write personal letters – not general templates

� Always be sensitive to their needs and circumstances

� Thank them every time something comes in – you could even telephone them!

� When it’s over, invite them in to see where the bequest will be spent

� Offer to write a short obituary online or in your newsletter

� They could be your next legacy benefactor!

Legacy Marketing: Legacy Marketing:

using your existing donorsusing your existing donors

� Your donors:

� Already “warm” to you – a real advantage

� Many have personal experience of you

� Age profile – have you got their age data?

� Use of small scale, personal DM? (Get your CEO or Chair of Trustees to write personally)

� Use of focus groups to inform you and them about legacies (and attitudes towards them)

� Use of market research – ask w/o asking!

Legacy Marketing: using your Legacy Marketing: using your

existing volunteersexisting volunteers

� Use your volunteers to:� Give talks

� Help with legacy promotion

� Deliver posters

� Be a source of simple legacy information

� Write articles for your newsletter

� They will need training, materials and support for this

� Don’t over-build the role: i.e. they’re not specialists

Legacy Marketing: Legacy Marketing:

developing new waysdeveloping new ways

� Posters:

� Produced in-house or outsourced

� DTP makes this easy to do in-house and cheap

� You might only need a small scale campaign

� Print just what you need

� See if there’s a local advertising design Co

� Would they do it as in-kind support?

� Point out the kudos it could give them

� What about a local art & design college?

� Offer a cash prize to best designs?

Legacy Marketing: Legacy Marketing:

developing new waysdeveloping new ways

� Posters – targeting your audience:� Use public places where over 50’s hang out…e.g.:

� Libraries (may have round robin service)

� GP’s surgeries (may have a round robin service)

� Dentists

� Opticians

� Osteopaths/chiropractors

� Solicitors offices

� Clubs (bowls, dancing, social, etc)

� Your own charity shops

� Supermarket notice boards (Morrison’s Cafes: very popular with senior citizens!)

Legacy Marketing: Legacy Marketing:

developing new waysdeveloping new ways

� Posters:

� Use A4 size (good for small notice boards)

� Use A3 or larger in your own charity shops

� Think BIG as well

� Hoardings at cheap periods (i.e. after New Year)

� Transport – buses, bus stops, stations (might get a free deal!)

� Corporate supporters may display posters too

� Offices, factories, shops

� A few poster examples…

Legacy Marketing: Legacy Marketing:

using legacy brochuresusing legacy brochures

� Remember: 88% of charity supporters have made a Will� So don’t write brochures saying how important it is to make a Will

� You ought to be saying, “Have you included a gift in your Will for us and do you know how simple it is to add a change to your Will?”

� Avoid waffle about “helping us to plan ahead for the future” – legacy income is not predictable!

� Ask yourself: Do we need a legacy brochure?

Marketing: legacy brochuresMarketing: legacy brochures

� If you do have one, do talk about:

� The great work your charity does

� What it achieves / how it helps people

� How legacies can make remarkable things possible

� The sort of sums that can achieve great things (both small and large)

� “You can do this or make this possible”

� Your charity’s performance: successes, professionalism and future longevity

� Include plenty of Passion!

Marketing legaciesMarketing legacies

� In all your publicity use:

� Simple words and terms

� E.g. “a gift in your Will” not legacy or bequest

� Other people’s words and real stories

� Good use of images says it better than words

� Passion again and again and again!

� Links to your website where you can expand your information, etc

� Clever touches (e.g. St Gemma’s Blue Plaques)

What other novel ways could be What other novel ways could be

utilised?utilised?

� Beermats – once tried by Greenpeace, Australia� FilPots – the replacement for the pub ashtray

� A unique form of advertising on a 6-sided cardboard container that sits on pub tables, in restaurants

� 80% of pubs approached now take them� Give one to your local solicitors for their waiting area

� Car window stickers� Cheap to produce� Insert into newsletters� Longevity and public visibility = brand reinforcement

What will it cost?What will it cost?

� It could be cheaper than you think!

� Posters are cheap to produce and display� Try to use B&W images and text

� Print in-house on a laser printer

� Use other people’s mailing services to circulate materials

� Brochures will cost money to design (if not done in-house) and print� See if a corporate sponsor will pay

� Don’t produce something that looks amateur

What will it cost?What will it cost?

� £1,000 pa is not a great amount, especially if it eventually brings in £1m+! The ROI is 1:1000, enough to make any Trustee smile!

� You’d be amazed what you can achieve with quite modest sums if you plan it carefully

� Special promotions can cost extra

� E.g. £350 for two aluminium blue plaques

� E.g. £800 for 4 hoarding posters x 2 weeks

� Try to get special deals - £5k for £50k+ rental

� However, restrict special promo’s to keep a healthy impact and costs down

Remember: Small is bountiful!Remember: Small is bountiful!

� You don’t have to be big to be effective and you might just have the edge over larger charities by being small and local

� It’s all about creativity, innovation, quality, good use of local knowledge, networks, data and resources, as well as the ability to pester people to give you something for nothing!

� And anyway, isn’t that what fundraisers do?

Thank you

Graham RichardsFreelance Fundraiser

graham@freelancefundraiser.co.ukWeb: www.freelancefundraiser.co.uk