Top 10 legacy fundraising strategies

The professor holds forth, and we are all ears! Professor Russell James reveals the science behind legacy giving that works.

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One of the highlights of my recent trip to the UK and Ireland was meeting Professor Russell James in person.

Brett and I had met him virtually when he was the special guest for a couple of Tom Ahern webinars on bequest fundraising. So we knew what level of excellence to expect.

Still, being in the audience for one of the professor's presentations at The Fundraising Summer School in Dublin — with no screen in between — was fantastic.

I took lots of notes...

Top 10 legacy fundraising strategies...

The full title of the talk was actually: "Top 10 legacy fundraising strategies from scientific research: National data and results from the lab."

And the 10 strategies are:

1. If you want a larger audience, don't lead with death.
   
   E.g., don't say something like, "When you are gone..." but rather "Your values are important, and they deserve to live on."
    
2. Emphasize lasting social impact.
   
   E.g., "Leaving a gift to [CHARITY] in your will means your impact will be felt for generations."
    
3. Present a social norm default (people like me do things like this).
   
   E.g., "I'm thinking of Sarah, who like you is committed to making a difference for pregnant women in crisis. That's why she decided to leave a gift to [CHARITY] in her will."
    
4. Advance the donor life story.
   
   E.g., "From the day you first stepped in to lend a hand, you’ve shown you understand the importance of neighbors helping neighbors."
    
5. Encourage tribute gifts in wills.
   
   E.g., "You can honor a loved one with a gift in your will. For example: ‘I leave 10 percent of my estate to [CHARITY] in memory of my grandmother, Rose — the woman who first taught me to share.'"
    
6. Use familiar words, not formal words.
   
   E.g., say "gift in will" rather than "bequest" or "estate planning."
    
7. Don't count it and forget it.
   
   I.e., donors who state they have placed your organization in their charity are not "sure things"; wills are often rewritten a number of times, so be sure to keep communicating with these donors.
    
8. Don't go radio silent at the critical moment.
   
   I.e., donors nearing the end of life may no longer be giving to you, but (especially if they are 80 or older) you should segment them so they keep hearing from you at a time when they may be in a position to draw up their final papers.
    
9. Target the 3 C's: childlessness, consistency, capacity.
   
   I.e., be aware that the largest bequests tend to come from donors who have no children, donors who have given to you consistently, and donors who have demonstrated the capacity to give larger amounts; communicate with them accordingly.
    
10. Beware of paltry gift examples.
    
    E.g., avoid saying something like "even $1000 would help" in the context of bequest fundraising, as the number you use can serve as an anchor that may hold back bigger thinking; rather, say something like "Ten percent of your estate could keep an entire clinic open, day after day."
    

All of the above Professor James refers to as the pursuit of symbolic immortality. I like to think of it as people wanting to focus on making a difference... and nothing else.

For a slew of free information on gifts in wills, connect with Prof. James on LinkedIn. He’ll automatically message you a bunch of resources — gold!!