Remember A Charity Week uses tech to personalise the legacy message

[THE FIRST WEEK in September saw the 2022 edition of the annual Remember A Charity Week. In common with previous events, this year saw the addition of a number of novel features to promotional activity.

In the lead-up to the week, Remember A Charity launched an emotive video to celebrate the sector’s collaboration in growing the legacy market and helping charities open up conversations with supporters around legacy giving. The video was shared via Remember A Charity’s social channels, and was designed for the charity members of the group to share with their supporters, to spread the word about legacy giving.

The Will You? video highlights the longlasting impact of a legacy gift. It features a range of causes, asking the audience ‘will you make a difference by leaving a gift in your will?’

Remember A Charity’s director Lucinda Frostick commented: “The Will You? video is one of the many ways we engage with the public and the tools we offer members to drive change and support their own legacy programmes.”

Remember A Charity followed the initial video with a humorous and nostalgic consumer-facing creative campaign, taking inspiration from one of the most iconic science-based TV shows from the 70s.

Earlier in the year, new customisable legacy assets were made available to participating charities, such as the poster made for The Elizabeth Foundation (right).

The charity’s chief executive Julie Hughes explained: “Legacies are a crucial source of income for the survival of The Elizabeth Foundation. A personalised campaign brings to life the needs of our beneficiaries and the importance of the work of the charity.”

Remember A Charity’s former director Rob Cope commented: “Giving charities their own personalised assets means they can start their own legacy conversations with supporters throughout the year. This dialogue can be crucial, not only in building awareness around gifts in wills, but in helping to break down some of the myths around gift size and flexibility, and inspiring supporters to take action.”

While the consortium’s consumer campaigns to grow gifts in wills run throughout the year, activity peaks during Remember A Charity Week with promotion through the campaign’s partners, including its network of over 800 solicitors and will-writers.

Lucinda Frostick added: “The more charities that come together through Remember A Charity, the more activity we can deliver and the more we can spread the word about the phenomenal impact of legacy giving, inspiring the public to consider a gift in their will.” q

[WILTSHIRE WILDLIFE TRUST is a charity working to build a sustainable future for wildlife and people in Wiltshire and beyond.

The trust was formed in 1962 with just seven members, driven by a concern to protect local wildlife and natural habitats. Image credit – Beverley Heath Its very first nature reserve was Blackmoor Copse, Salisbury (pictured), now a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).

Sixty years on, Wiltshire Wildlife Trust has over 23,000 members and 42 nature reserves covering 1,200 hectares across Wiltshire and Swindon. Their membership, alongside generous grants, legacies, donations and sponsorship, enables the trust to restore and manage vital wildlife habitats such as ancient woodland, rare floodplain meadows and chalk streams, and to run regular wellbeing and youth programmes to reconnect people with nature.

Over the last 60 years, the charity has witnessed changes to the populations of some of the country’s most iconic species. Whilst some have declined, others have recovered and flourished thanks to habitat restoration by trust staff and volunteers. Otters returned to Wiltshire in the 1990s, and species like water voles are being helped by the trust’s ongoing Bay Meadows project, which will both improve aquatic habitat and plant hundreds of new hedgerow plants and trees.

Leaving a gift in your will to Wiltshire Wildlife Trust will help them to continue this vital conservation and education work, manage more land for nature, and keep our natural habitats in the best condition for wildlife and people to enjoy for generations to come. q • To find out more visit www.wiltshirewildlife.org/a-gift-in-your-will.

[SINCE ITS FOUNDING in 1883, Edinburgh Dog and Cat Home has relied almost entirely on gifts in wills to keep its doors open.

The home costs nearly £2m a year to run, and in the absence of any regular government funding, they are left almost completely dependent on donations and fundraising initiatives to keep going.

One of the most powerful ways that the community has supported the charity is by leaving gifts in their wills. An astounding one in three animals that reside with them each year has had their care funded by legacies.

Legacies and Individual Giving Manager Gillian MacAulay explained: “We simply couldn’t keep going without this lifeline and there really are no words to describe what it means to us when we discover that someone has made that decision to include us in their will.

“This support can transform the lives of the hundreds of vulnerable animals who need our help each year – for as long as they need it. By leaving a gift, your love and compassion for animals can live on.” q • To find out how to make a lasting contribution, please visit edch.org.uk/legacies or contact Gillian MacAulay, Legacies and Individual Giving Manager on 0131 669 5331 or by emailing gillian@edch.org.uk