With a change in leadership around the corner at Remember A Charity, the consortium’s Chair, Allan Freeman, highlights some of the campaign’s big wins from director Rob Cope’s 12 years in the post.
A huge amount of change has occurred in the legacy market over the past decade with will-writing shifting online and more charities entering the legacy market. Most importantly we’ve seen annual legacy income rising from around £2.1 billion in 2010 to £3.4 in 2021. Alongside this growth we’ve seen enormous challenges too – from probate problems to a global pandemic - and Remember A Charity has been at the heart of helping the sector adapt, learn and grow.
Our director Rob Cope has been instrumental in all this, of course. So, before he moves over to his role as Executive Director of Membership & Charitable Giving at the Chartered Institute of Fundraising later this month, I wanted to highlight some of the work he’s led behind the scenes and the way the campaign has evolved.
Although Remember A Charity is best known for its consumer campaigns, it’s often the less visible activities that can have the greatest impact. In 2011, the UK government published its 'Giving Paper' which set out proposals for building a stronger culture of giving time and money. Even though they are the largest single source of voluntary income, there was no mention of legacies.
Yet after our lobbying drive, which included giving evidence from our work with the Cabinet Office’s nudge team on the impact of charitable prompting during the Will writing process, that position changed. The ‘One Year On’ report, published in 2012, emphasised the critical role of legacies in the UK. The next year, Charities Minister Nick Hurd backed Remember A Charity Wee and wrote to solicitors across the country and urging them to highlight charitable legacies to clients. The government's position of support has remained strong since then.
In 2018, following our submission to the government’s Inheritance Tax review – where we emphasised the impact of tax relief on legacies – the consortium was again credited for its evidence. And the tax relief, which plays a critical role not only in incentivising gifts but in opening up dialogue around legacy giving, was protected.
Remember A Charity has become a trusted government partner – and that’s essential when working with partners like the Institute of Legacy Management to protect the legacy environment and tackle problem areas like the ongoing probate backlog.
There are many routes to growing the legacy market, and the legal sector has always been a vital part of the picture. Solicitors have become increasingly active in this space, with almost a 20% rise over the past 8 years in the proportion of advisers referencing charitable Wills with clients. Commissioning the second round of in-depth behavioural insights research in 2013 turned out to be a game-changer for the campaign.
This time, the research looked into the way that solicitors reference charitable Wills with clients and the importance of social norming. It shows us that a straightforward charitable prompt like ‘have you considered leaving a gift to charity in your Will?’ might double the chances someone will donate. Add social norming into the picture, and people are three times as likely to leave a gift. This might mean a legal adviser saying something like: ‘People often choose to leave a gift in their Will - would you like to do the same?’ A relatively subtle shift in language, but with striking results.
A greater understanding of the power of social norming in driving change has enabled us to issue guidance for legal professionals, shape how online providers and will-writing software prompt clients about legacies and have a real impact on Will-writing behaviour. We’re also integrating that thinking around social norming into our wider programme.
When it comes to behaviour change, it’s never as simple as raising awareness. We need to break down barriers, explore the topic in-depth and we need to be targeted with our work. That’s why we’ve taken to digital channels in such a big way in recent years and we’re seeing some great results on the back of that.
Like most organisations, we’ve been increasing our use of digital over the years. But, in 2019, we focused on delivering targeted outreach to the over-55s through social media. In that time, through Facebook alone, we have reached over six million charity-minded baby boomers.
This has been through a combination of creative campaigns featuring nostalgic, well-loved characters like The Wombles, and our push to promote and celebrate members’ stories on social media. Engagement is high, and in the last year alone, we’ve seen a 56% increase in web users on our site, featuring inspirational stories and links to our members’ webpages.
With digital, our budget goes even further. This means that we’re able to keep our consumer campaigns going all year round, with a heightened burst during Remember A Charity Week, of course.
I couldn’t talk about the successes during Rob’s time, without highlighting the growth of the legacy market – our central mission.
Certainly, we’ve seen legacy income grow over the years, but the key measure here is the proportion of people choosing to leave a gift in their Will. While income is often skewed by house and share prices – elements beyond our control, it’s consumer behaviour (the number of people giving) that is fundamental for long-term legacy growth, particularly now.
In our latest benchmarking research, almost one in five donors (19%) said they had included a charity in their Will (up from 14% in 2013) and a further 10% were preparing to do so.
Rob has, in many ways been the face of Remember A Charity and has been instrumental in so much of what we have achieved. Under his leadership, more charities have joined us and we’ve been able to gain more insights, step up the campaign’s work with strategic partners, and accelerate impact.
Even more importantly he has developed a team who works together so well that, despite being only a small team, our impact is significant. And perhaps that is Rob’s biggest achievement, he leaves the campaign in a position of strength with clear objectives a real sense of direction, priorities and a team who can deliver them.