The D word. It’s something we don’t talk about enough in our culture, and even when we do, we can’t seem to get the word out. Pushing up the daisies, kicking the bucket, biting the dust… There are so many metaphors to help us avoid directly talking about Death.

This poses a problem for marketing professionals in the charity sector, where gifts in Wills account for up to a third of annual income. When 30% of your revenue is at stake, encouraging your audience to face the inevitability of death becomes essential.  Bristol-based CRM agency Flourish have identified this as a challenge and are helping charities to maximise their potential for legacy donations.

A legacy donation is made when someone leaves a gift for a charity in their Will.

For many people, including a charity donation in their Will is a way to ensure their beliefs are honoured when they’re no longer here. Some people choose to pledge a set amount, whereas others opt for a per centage of their estate. However, there are others who slip though the net, and don’t get round to updating their Will at all.

Fortunately, there are awareness days around gifts in Wills – and two of them are on the horizon over the next couple of months. To help charities make the most of these, Flourish is planning a series of articles, case studies and social media posts to help raise awareness of legacy marketing and the challenges that surround it.

Record numbers of people are leaving gifts in their Wills today, partly thanks to increased awareness, demonstrating that an appetite to do something meaningful is there. Charities who provide a sensitive, thoughtful legacy journey have the potential to capture many more legacy donations.

Kim Martin, Executive Creative Director, said, “Fundraising Managers should start planning now to capitalise on awareness days later in the year. It’s a golden opportunity to find hand-raisers who will become pledgers in the future.”

You can keep up to date with the campaign by following Flourish via LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter and by visiting the Flourish website blog.

Flourish have worked with a range of not-for-profit organisations over 15 years, providing creative and strategic planning to raise legacy funding from gifts in Wills. This has resulted in some increased revenue for charities including PDSA, Crisis, St Mungo’s, Diabetes UK, CLIC Sargent and many more.

If you need help communicating about legacy fundraising to your audience, get in touch with Flourish and we’ll be happy to offer a free customer journey review in time for the upcoming legacy fundraising awareness days.

About Flourish

We’re a specialist CRM agency, delivering data-driven customer journeys.