Providing an objective perspective on your position and potential, to inform long-term decision-making

So overshadowed is our culture of death and remembrance by the rituals and symbols of the past that imagining the future come less naturally to us. Yet the way we celebrate the lives of those we’ve loved and lost is changing at such an accelerating rate, charities can no longer afford to ignore it.

Recently we challenged ourselves to stretch our imaginations and visualise how remembrance might look like 20 years from now. This wasn’t just an exercise in crystal-ball gazing. We teamed up with agency WPN Chameleon to combine our knowledge of in-memory giving in 2018 and the direction of future trends – both social and digital. The result was a vision of the future informed by evidence and possibility.

Our breakfast briefing event – The year is 2020: How have death and remembrance changed? – suggested a brave new world in which we have far more time and appetite to plan our own deaths and take back control of how we are remembered. Letters of wishes are updated at the click of a switch. Digital curators – the new guardians of our digital immortality – are appointed as naturally as the beneficiaries of our wills.

This is a world where we discuss death freely and publicly, using all the social media at our fingertips. Yet many of us still find ourselves encumbered by anachronisms from the past. Like the prepaid funeral plan, taken out by a well-meaning relative, that’s left a hole in our pocket and a remembrance package profoundly out of sync with who we are (and, for that matter, who they were).

The familiar, funeral director-orchestrated gathering is a distant memory, replaced by highly personalised commemorative events of every flavour. Their design reflects the demands and foibles of those left behind every bit as much as those being remembered.

Crucially, in this world charities will have to work much harder to assert their significance in the life of the person being remembered – however real and strong this might have been. This means actively supporting and inspiring mourners to gather, remember and donate in the ways they want to – whether that’s direct to a smart watch or to a hat-holding hologram. The death-knell may be sounding for the charity funeral collection as we know it – but the doors opening to new, creative connections between charities and supporters’ families with unlimited potential.

We look forward to presenting our vision of the future again in full at an IOF Legacy and In-Memory Special Interest Group event next year – watch this space. In the meantime, you can watch a quick video about the session and see what fellow fundraisers thought about it, here.

Until then – a philosophy to leave you with: Remembrance is less about how a person has died and more about how they’ve lived. We can all start following this today.

If you’re interested in looking at your In-Memory Strategy moving forward, please get in touch with us here.

Earlier this year we began offering specialist In-Memory Consultancy services to charities looking to develop and improve their in-memory fundraising. As part of this initiative we have developed an exciting new product: the In-Memory Health Check – a comprehensive assessment of all aspects of a charity’s in-memory fundraising programme, devised to help charities propel their fundraising forward in this area.

‘Health’ is a measurement of performance against both an ideal standard, and a sector-wide, benchmarked standard. The Health Check takes into account sector benchmarking data and assesses the charity’s activities against a range of success factors critical to an integrated in-memory programme.

In brief, the In-Memory Health Check can:

• Equip an organisation with information about how it is performing compared to similar charities
• Shine a light on any particular areas of difference or concern
• Aid planning by indicating key strategic steps the charity could take
• Offer an affordable solution for those who want to pro-actively move forward with their in-memory fundraising, but may have resource or budget limitations

We’re currently delighted to be undertaking this work with WWF, who are at a pivotal point in their own in-memory fundraising.

Maria Dyson, Supporter Stewardship Manager, WWF said:

“With our In-Memory Health Check, we are benefitting from Legacy Foresight’s wealth of experience and unique position as drivers of the In-Memory Insight programme. We have been able to access an expert team, and the most comprehensive research on in-memory trends and best practice available”.

If you are interested in hearing more about our new In-Memory Health Check service, please get in touch with Kate Jenkinson, Head of In-Memory Consultancy at Legacy Foresight. 

Making your in‑memory income soar

Are you starting from scratch with in-memory fundraising and wondering what to do first? Or does your charity have a fledgling programme that isn’t achieving its full potential? Are you operating in isolation without a strategic plan? Or facing a particular challenge, such as how to meet an increased target for your in-memory income, or how to construct a business case for a new member of your team?

Whatever your challenge, from April this year Legacy Foresight will be offering specialist strategic support to charities with their in-memory and tribute fundraising, under a brand new consultancy service headed up by in-memory specialist Kate Jenkinson.

As well as strategy development and business planning, we will also provide in-memory donor research, in-memory product development and strategic support with stewardship and donor journey planning. With all our services our aim is to work collaboratively with clients – putting to great use the unparalleled knowledge we’ve built up over 5 years of driving In-Memory Insight and assisting a host of individual charities and hospices with their programmes.

Why not contact Kate Jenkinson for an informal chat on 07929 369724
Download the brochure here
Or email k.jenkinson@legacyforesight.co.uk
 

Client update

Our consultancy clients over the past year include the Donkey Sanctuary, Freedom from Torture, Help Musicians UK, Hft, Livability, Princess Alice Hospice, RAF Benevolent Fund, UNICEF and the Woodland Trust

Searching for the holy grail?

Our charity clients are keen to understand the link between marketing spend and income achieved, to ensure they are investing their funds to best effect. In legacies, when the gap between first connection and final gift can span decades, that’s no easy matter!

This spring, we are working with legacy consultant Ashley Rowthorn and thirty four leading charities on a legacy marketing benchmarking programme. We plan to collect fundamental data on fundraising activities, costs and response rates, balancing the need to keep things simple with the desire for worthwhile insight. We hope that the range and quality of data collected will build over time, making this a must-have annual research programme.

Mapping legacy markets worldwide

 Over the past decade we have seen a new breed of pan-European and global charity brands emerge. Many are looking to develop a coordinated, consistent approach to fundraising – and legacies are no exception.

We recently conducted some analysis of 15 important legacy territories worldwide, to assess the size, drivers and scope for each. Building on our experience in the UK and now Holland too, we constructed simple market models to predict potential legacy income over the next decade. This helped our international development client to decide where to prioritise its investment, and the actions needed to stimulate more growth.

Using scenarios to assess your legacy potential

Long-term legacy forecasts are a vital input to future plans and targets. Many clients ask us to assess their legacy income in ten, fifteen, even twenty years’ time.

When looking over a long time-span, a wide range of factors, both external and internal, come into play. For example, if Britain left the EU in 2017, what might it mean for legacy incomes? How will baby boomers’ desire to protect their families impact on the number of gifts in wills? Equally importantly, how will our new communications strategy effect our older donors? How soon will our extra marketing spend take effect?

Rather than present one single income trajectory, we offer a range of future outcomes – from optimistic to pessimistic. This helps build understanding of what’s driving your income, identifying those factors that you can – and cannot – control. It also encourages management to consider the upside and downside risks of alternative outcomes.

If you’d like to know more about our approach to long-range legacies, contact Chris Farmelo.