As part of this year’s CIoF Convention, delegates can watch a showreel we’ve produced of inspiring legacy communications. Legacy marketing and comms doesn’t get the same coverage as other areas of fundraising so we were keen to use this chance to celebrate some of the brilliant work being done across the world.
We asked colleagues, partners and clients to nominate their favourite legacy activity. The collection of 18 examples shows just how varied the work is in this area. The examples chosen make people think, they give hope, they bring the cause to life, they build connections.
From beer mats to biscuits and beyond, the examples include lots of different formats and activity. We love to see how legacy messaging is being done creativity, unifying brand and connecting with supporters.
Here are some common themes.
1. Storytelling
The examples which feature emotional stories, challenge people to think about their own purpose, what they stand for, what they’d leave behind. From a Guinness advert to WaterAid’s popular What Jack gave film, Ngozi for World Vision, George for Cork Simon in Ireland and various dog owners for Dogs Trust, these beautiful videos pack an emotional punch.
2. Humour
It can be difficult to get it right but humour is a great way to grab attention as Remember A Charity campaigns have shown over the years. Humorous beer mats from Greenpeace Australia, Battersea’s TV ad, a pandemic toilet roll stockpile cartoon from Testement.be in Belgium and Greenpeace UK’s timely response to a high-profile TV storyline were all memorable examples.
3. Physical items
In a world of fleeting social media, we love hearing about more permanent ways of connecting with and celebrating legators. Our showreel includes a stone sculpture in the garden of North Devon Hospice with an app which shares stories of the people who’ve left a legacy and RNLI’s lifeboats with donor’s names on. Another stand-out example was a simple idea of hand-baked biscuits sent to people attending a virtual legacy event hosted by Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research in Australia.
4. Simplicity
The biscuits example shows us that simple ideas don’t have to be costly. Another example in the showreel is of AICR (now Worldwide Cancer Research) a cancer charity which wrote a letter to supporters generating piles of replies. People shared their experiences, wrote poems and more.
Legacy campaigns you love
Do you have a favourite legacy campaign or activity? Something which has stood out for you or helped shape how you think about legacy fundraising? Or something you produced with your team which has had good results? We’d love to hear about it.
Tell us about it on LinkedIn or Twitter using #LegacyCampaign
Thank you
We’d like to thank all of the people who shared their favourite legacy activity with us and the organisations who kindly allowed us to share their material. Here’s a full list of the examples in order that they play in the video.
- Ashley Rowthorn, Legacy Futures Group – Guinness’ ‘The Purse’ ad
- Craig Fordham, Macmillan Cancer – Dogs Trust ‘Love dogs forever’ video
- Meg Abdy, Legacy Futures Group – Greenpeace UK’s Succession response
- Lucinda Frostick, Remember A Charity – Testement.be cartoon
- Jad Farhat, Legacy Futures Group – World Vision ‘Ngozi’s story’ video
- Emma Hazlewood, National Trust – Centrepoint ‘No one dreams of being homeless’
- Rob Cope, CIoF – Greenpeace Australia beer mats
- Dr Claire Routley, Legacy Futures Group – Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research ‘event biscuits’
- Arjen van Ketel, consultant – Nalaten ann cultuur campaign
- Stephen Mooney, Legacy Futures Group – WaterAid ‘What Jack gave’
- David Burland, David Burland Associates – North Devon Hospice’s Forever Stone
- Alf Cowan, MediaLab – RNLI Launch a memory
- Roger Lawson – AICR (now Worldwide Cancer Research) letters
- Dr Lucy Lowthian, Legacy Futures Group – Battersea Dogs and Cats Home TV ad
- Madeleine Sugden, consultant – RSPB Time Flies TV ad
- Georgina Ryan, Ask Direct – Cork Simon ‘George’s story’
- Richard Hill, Legacy Futures Group – Brooke’s legacy brochure
- Alex McDowell, Revitalise – RSPCA’s Home for Life
Watch out for the full video coming to our channels soon.