Launched in 2020 Legacy Fundraising 2.0 aims to generate evidence, insight and discussion on the value of digital legacy fundraising.

Legacy Fundraising 2.0 sets out to assess how best to use digital and social media to raise awareness, acquire new legacy donors and steward existing supporters, by exploring a number of important themes:

Good practice in digital and social for legacies.
Understanding digital donors.
Innovative platforms and approaches.
Making more noise about legacies.
The shift to always on.
Building digital skills and buy-in.
Measuring success.
From ideas to action. Our clients know how important digital and social marketing will be in the future. But with so much information out there and limited capacity, what practical steps should we take now to make things happen?

“Legacy Fundraising 2.0 has been a key tool in helping to inform our digital legacy activity over the last two years. Not only does the research and information sharing help with practical implementation it has helped us to improve traction with our digital teams which is vital to our future success.”
Dan Carter, Global Legacy Director, IFAW

How it works

Legacy Fundraising 2.0 is a rolling research programme, with each year building on the one before.

Since the programme was launched in autumn 2020, we have collected evidence on the current scale and shape of digital legacy fundraising, conducted ‘social listening’ research into the legacy conversations taking place on social media, examined baby boomers’ attitudes and behaviour when engaging with charities online and set up a pilot dashboard of digital legacy benchmarks.

During 2022/23 we will focus on three key elements:

Reviewing best practice communication strategies aimed at a boomer audience
Evaluating the content and tone of our member charities’ legacy web pages
Updating and refining the digital legacy benchmarks developed in the 2021/22 programme

We use a wide range of research methods as appropriate, including:

Desk research – to uncover important underlying issues to explore in our own research, and to identify interesting sources and experts to draw upon
Expert panels – to stretch and challenge our thinking, including inviting key experts to attend project workshops and feed into project findings
Focus groups and depth interviews – to understand donors’ motivations, experiences and expectations
Consumer surveys – to track the incidence and value of giving by method
Social listening research – to uncover the key topics, emotions and behaviour driving
online conversations around a specific topic
Best practice and case studies – to establish the current status of fundraising across our learning circle members, and to find the most innovative and effective strategies
Benchmarking – to measure the prevalence and cost of the fundraising approaches used, and the responses achieved
Group discussion – bringing charities together to share ideas and challenges

All learning circle members receive

Reports summarising key messages from the best practice research and web page evaluation
Detailed benchmarking results (if data is provided)
Presentations and workshop notes (PDF)
Workshop recordings
A summary report aimed at senior managers and trustees
Access to the Legacy Foresight Client Area
Regular newsletters and project updates

Costs

The cost per organisation for the 2022/23 cycle will be based on their average voluntary income (i.e. income from donations and legacies) in the 3 financial years 2018/19 – 2020/21, based on published accounts data stored on the Charity Commission Register of Charities:

Over £10m: £3,150+VAT

Under £10m: £2,100+VAT