Legacy Giving Tips for Nonprofits

Today our special guest is Richard Radcliffe and  I'm so excited to talk to him he is the author of why legacies are brilliant for Charities and  how to get them he was also in 2018 awarded the lifetime contribution and fundraising award  through the Institute of fundraising and he's hilarious so he is here to talk to us about  Legacy giving and with that let's welcome Richard [Music] welcome Richard I am very excited  to have you here because I know a lot of our followers are smaller Grassroots

organizations  and you say Legacy giving to them and they say I think you're perfect to talk on this subject  so why don't we start with an introduction of who you are okay well it's it's lovely to be  virtually in Canada I have to say I'd love to come back again but yeah it's funny because  I'm 68 now and I've been in the business of legacies for 35 each years and the funny  thing is you went OG and they laughed and I do try and make people smile because it's an  amazing way of giving you it's

more popular than ever before it's absolutely brilliant  so there are three things that I really do one is focus groups Legacy focus groups which  is never called focus groups who ever dreamed of waking up in the morning and saying I want  to go into a legacy focus group and the answer is they didn't but we call them Discovery days  and I've now met 35 000 people uh around the world in focus groups and I've done them on  Zoom during covid as well um and that included some calls to Canada actual

ly but on the East  Coast not the West Coast or in lovely Calgary um and um it's amazing there are so many myths  about Legacy giving that is miserable and horrible so we discuss all of those and I write  strategists I've written about 500 of those and I train anybody to make the art uh nicely because  I'm a bit of a weird consultant really I just want to make sure everybody who reads any message about  anything to do with any form of death time giving whether it's a plan gift or a legacy and a

legacy  is a gift and a will a really simple thing to do and I just want to make sure that everybody's  happy because you never know where they are in life this journey and what's just happened to  them so that's all I do every day of the week and have them for years and decades and it's a more  exciting moment than I've ever ever experienced before yeah I know I love my job I absolutely love  it at the end of the day when you're exhausted and you've given everything you got you know you did  it

for a good reason absolutely and the moment I don't love it at the moment I think I know  everything I will give up as an arrogant Old English what's it so I just I'm constantly  on his learning curve and it's fascinating um and you what is the extraordinary in the UK  we have amazing information we're really lucky we need every single gift in every World um and  what is the extraordinary and this is happening I think everywhere including Canada I said listen  up small non-profit and that is th

at the number of Charities benefiting in the UK has gone from 2  000 Americas uh that was about 20 years ago to ten thousand uh benefit from gifts and wills and the  wonderful thing is so many of them are so small um and it just gives you the most amazing  Financial Security it's like having that little um vaccine for Financial Health in the future  you know suddenly you've got some unrestricted reserves to grow all the services you want to  serve or whoever you're serving whether it's the envir

onment or people or animals or anything  else you know and I think part of it is for for the smaller nonprofits is they think plan giving  and which is so-called it can be complicated but the difference between plan giving and Legacy  giving let's chat about that because Legacy giving is easy so planned planned giving don't  tell anybody drives me absolutely now I'll tell you why and it happens a lot in America and  a little bit in Canada is formally defined as combining family fiscal and philan

thropic  Ambitions through a financial incident which is quite complicated to a so complicated tax  returns not bad in Canada in America but actually a gift in the world is something you can just do  in two minutes and that's what's so ridiculous there are so many myths about making your will  but although we do have evidence that if you do make it when you live 10 years longer than if  you don't first added the incentive for you all um and it's nothing to do with wealth which is really  interes

ting as well um so actually every Campaign which you can trigger so easily on digital um at  no cost whatsoever and no risk is mind-blowing yeah yeah we just did a blog post on  Legacy giving for a holiday campaign how to tack it on to your holiday campaign  I hope it's your last holiday oh great yeah that's what we've got to avoid is to make  sure that people smile uh when they see the campaign and say hey dude that's really  sensible I should have a will before I get on that airplane you know

which is which is  a very common reaction say that most people make a will and this is really interesting when  we get to digital activities the first will and this is evidence from Canada around the UK and  Australia um it's usually made in the mid late 30s when you've had a child and you think oh  I better appoint a God yeah um or you've just bought a property with a partner on the wrong  people inheritance right it's slightly worried then you don't update it for 30 years and you  retire you d

o it at 68 my age but I did it three years it's going to be in advance of the normal  British member of the public or anybody else um and then the final one is at 80. but  the important thing for any campaign is what we call nudging so this is where we get to  digital and really fascinating if you're happy for me to continue on channel usage and what you can  say and what you can do um I'll carry on Joanne if you're happy with that yeah well no well you  you know we're all about digital here and

the digital fundraising and the digital marketing  and yeah so carry on Joe and I'm going to ask you a question have you got a will I do but it's  outdated you're boring me typical Joe and there we go boy that is so normal I can't tell you I mean  the funny thing is that um if you have if you are a smallish or even medium-sized or dare I say even  a massive Great Canadian uh non-profit Authority um it's really interesting there's a big stuff  like brochures you will never ever ever ever need be

cause actually at the end of the day um it's really simple and with this non-serious  fascinating it's it's been studied now for about 20 years by various professors in virtually every  country and it's a very short statement it's I think about all of you out there are you getting  too many messages are you getting too many emails are you seeing too many adverts because I am  and it drives me to distraction because I don't remember any of them nah that is really important  because that's what is

happening globally um so the result is that if you do a really short  quick sentence usually starting with a question it is Remembered in fact recall goes up 400 percent  and this is I find really fascinating just say you know where I'm getting all my uh information from  it's about 14 universities um around the globe who study financial planning Estate Planning and  decision making by people aged over 55 and the 35 000 people I've met in focus groups in virtually  every part of Canada and that

goes right away from Vancouver to Calgary to right the far way over  to Halifax and including Ottawa and Montreal and everywhere else um is the fact that if you ask  a question an older person has to know if they know the answer actually everybody because they  knew I would if I did but that's why things like word law is so popular now uh and all the little  quizzes that you can do like Sudoku because it's keeping your mind going and he can have a bit of  fun for a few minutes and do it exactly

the same because the best Legacy campaigns fully integrated  into your digital activity can be really easy cost free and remember the average you know gifting a  will in Canada is around seventy thousand dollars you know so imagine all of you if you just got  three or four of those every single year or dare I say 30 or 40 which you might because one in two  people well one in three in Canada um I'm putting the gift in their will so before we go to channels  I just want to start on something rea

lly important you're going through a cost of living crisis  we're getting through a cost to living crisis um and it's scary out there which means that a  lot of people aren't giving money now to charity why because it costs them something and they  haven't got any money in their bank account but they can leave a gift in their will  because it costs nothing now it is superb and you can make a will online you can do it  free you can do it in any way that you like you can use a lawyer whatever the

choices  you choose you can make a will in seconds but it's really easy to be just like Joanne and  forget to do it uh because it's like dieting in it oh I'll do it tomorrow don't you worry no do it  today because it's so easy it is unbelievable and it's really easy to get action on digital channels  mainly Facebook but also increasingly YouTube and a little bit of Instagram but that's a very visual  tell rather than Facebook but let's just begin putting ourselves in your position wherever you 

are whatever kind of non-profit you are the first question I would ask is this do you think anybody  really understands where you get your money from because most people won't leave a gift in their  will unless they understand where they where you get your money from so I would probably start  with it did you know that let's say you get 30 of your money from some form of statutory  money either locally or nationally from from the Canadian government you should be saying  did you know that only 3

0 of our funds come from any statutory or government sources  the rest come from a wonderful Community um including donations and gift and will oh yes  subtle it's so simple because all you're doing is just reminding them that a gift in the world can  be really really good now the number of questions you can ask on did you know just go on for hours I  can call you silly but if you're watching this in the morning you might still be up in the evenings  I talk non-stop um but the funny thing is bec

ause a legacy is a gift in the world you need a world  it's a bit of a logical decision and Joanne will get there eventually and update her will um  having a real deal with you but it's so normal um the funny thing is the more you just remind  people about why you need it it's a logical decision yeah they do want to not just survive  this charity they want to thrive the next is made you thrive you know because unrestricted as I said  earlier so did you know where we get our money from You could

argue the way you can reverse that  by saying did you know that without support of our local community we wouldn't be able to help 7 out  of 10 people or seven out of 10 animals or carry out seven out of 10 projects because actually  only 30 of our money comes from government so that is what we call a funding  statement and he explains the funding now lots of others you can use as well now hold on to  hold on to everything you've got get either on the keyboard or get a pen or good old-fashioned

keeper  and they've done this 95 of Canadians are unaware that if they have a family they can leave a gift  in their work so they just discount it entirely so no matter what they're doing on digital Laurel  any online or looking at your website everything I say can go on your website as well um and so they  just discount it so they don't continue reading they just stop in the conversation okay but the  moment you say did you know you could leave one percent in your will to our non-profit so that

  your family inherit 99 percent they all go really and for me I've left a gift in my outdated will  but because I want to set that example for my children as well they know they grew up with this  they expected that a percentage of that is going to go to charity and they're going to probably get  behind that charity and you know your generation My Generation I know I'm a lot older than you uh  very generous philanthropists um but as you get older you worry about the financial crisis  oh well I

think I'll leave you know what he said but it is funny how uh Baby Boomers and  even the silent generation the one above it um are really Keen to educate their kids that  philanthropy in any way is really really important and that philanthropy can include volunteering let  alone donations let alone give it to the world so what would be really strange is when your trip  your children grow up and I've got grown-up kids and then a second marriage and younger kids so  that's why you have to retire a

t the age of 85 um is how many of them them will leave a  legacy in memory of mum and dad because that happens a lot you almost inherit your  legacy giving from your parents now you're setting an example where the benefits might  trickle down for generations to come Joanne which is brilliant utterly brilliant but I  still wish you a very long and happy life sorry and if you leave a charity gift in your  world you live an extra eight years on top of the Ten of having a will that's only an  averag

e I can't guarantee it I'm afraid um but it's in that one sentence Did you know you  could leave us one percent is really fascinating so I've tested this with fifteen thousand donors  in UK Canada America uh Australia now America has the highest uh number of philanthropists and  the most they're the most generous nation in the world think about seven times more generous  in the UK or Canada and yet I'm in the middle of focus groups and across the whole of the  west to east coast at the moment on

Zoom focus group every single person I've seen right back  down yeah and when we say right I've just told you that you can leave one percent are you like  these doing yeah yes but actually I might leave five because I didn't even realize I could leave  five percent and all our evidence is pointing to the fact that people this opens the barriers it  releases them into the world of Legacy giving and they just go to their professional advisable  right now we're online whatever they want to do and

do it the important thing is to make sure  that you constantly nudge why let me ask you this do you know when anybody is on their way to  their professional advisor no uh do you know when anybody might be getting married getting divorced  when their parents have died to all reasons for making a will no you don't so one direct mail  letter is very likely out of 365 days of the year to hit on the right day when somebody's thinking  of doing their will but digital is perfect because you can say did

you know this is where we  get our funds to come this is where our funds come from did you know that 70 of our support we offer  is through donations and also to give it in Wills did you know you can leave one percent but you can  also do other little nudges just to remind people that it's a way of giving that is perfectly  normal nice and easy you know you can make you well online in a few minutes and give them a  link to a will a provider or give them a name of a solicitor if you've got some

friendly lawyers  out there who will help you give them their names um and did you know that or just a simple this can  even be a did you know whenever when the time is right for you to remember a charity and you will  please remember ours you can leave us one percent see your family get 99 percent these little  nudges which I would probably put on Facebook not every day because people get really fed up  you know leave me alone I want to live longer um but you you can do it either every Fortnigh

t  or once a month yep and you can monitor the number of likes which doesn't mean a lot but it doesn't  mean that people think oh I quite like that idea now the other thing that I would do is certainly  and this is where I think recall of digital is really interesting you've got to make action  so easy because otherwise they'll just drop out and what's really important is to make  sure you regularly give a link to your legacy web pages so they want more information  um like your charity number a

nd your name now what have I just said charity number and name  that's all they need actually see when you when you write your will you don't need to think of  everything you own at all because actually by the time you die you won't own it probably so the  result is if somebody wants to put your non-profit in their will all they need to decide is oh I  leave one percent as that might make it three um and what do I need to give to my professional  advisor registered name and number it's all nothi

ng else couldn't be simpler and you can  give a link to your web pages where that is perfectly clear and people can go and read an  inspirational story either by somebody who's already done it if you do get legacies the most  popular story of the law is how you've used the Legacy now or how you typically use a legacy so  you can do another did you know if you've ever had access if you haven't had any say so because  it'll show the big difference you're gonna make but just pretend for a moment we

've just had  a a gift in the world of five thousand dollars that typically pays did you know that typically  pays for and then give a quote I'm hoping many of you will have a donation shopping list where you  can say you know that 5000 pays for this or two thousand dollars pays for that whatever it might  be this is high-end donation shopping list yeah when you're giving a tangible outcome of a gift  in a will and suddenly people well I could do that simple this is safe some pretend I can't tel

l you  when what do you think of those Charities because I've seen it a lot where they put sample wordage  on their website here is the blurb no no okay this is yesteryear practice now the reason I say  that is that when we've met any form of Legal Professional in Canada they know the wording  to put in a will because they've done it all their lives it's rather like a legal advisor real  professional advisor ringing up a fundraiser in a non-profit by the way we know much better than you  how to

run a community event you know it's rubbish it's absolutely rubbish what every single person  and remember the people who are leaving Lexus now they might put a legacy in in memory of their  parents having been the parents being defeated in a hospital you know because I worked with a  number of hospitals in Canada and the kids are really Keen to say thank you once they've had the  funding statement um so you might get people in their 30s and 40s wanting to do it they do not  need in their busy l

ives complicated decisions you can just contact your professional advisor  or do it online the only information you need is on registered charity name and number and every  single person I'm meeting at the moment saying do you know this is a breath of fresh air but  simply you keep it the more I will go and do it yeah it's like that for pretty much anything even  just the online donation process I keep saying get get in with like Apple pay Google just make  it one click one click that's it I mea

n I think it's the wonderful thing about digital it can  be so quick that people will just go straight to a link or remember that did you know within  seconds if they go to the website link you do need a bit of inspiration behind the did you know  so you need that tangible outcome from a gift and give some examples of a gift of 5 000 would  typically pay for even if you haven't had one um or maybe two thousand five thousand fifty  thousand do a whole range of them um and if you've got anybody wh

o's already done it saying I  think it's perfectly normal to leave a gift in a world it's brilliant um and I've done it and I'm  not wealthy and I've got a family Perfect story yup the other really good story to put on digital  is if you've got a family member let's say we're going back to the son daughter of somebody in a  in a small community hospital yeah very simple um and they're saying look my mum and dad were  treated brilliantly and I want to say thank you but I got no money now but I co

uld leave a gift in  my world for the future of that hospital brilliant wonderful yeah died a huge fan of stories  aren't we all if you're a good fundraiser John you need good stories you know so but this  is light touch it isn't big Legal Information you don't need to talk about all the taxes already  and there aren't many in Canada you just need to make this so simple it is unbelievable  but you should support it with some really inspirational messages on the website so that  you've got really

good stories to tell and then the passion links into the logic of how easy it is  to leave one person yeah and what about the good old-fashioned face-to-face ask is that something  that we're still doing with Legacy giving it's it's always fascinates me because you  know if you take a major donor campaign every single major data is is met  face to face you know one for one but actually most prospects for a gift in  a will don't like it say if you're precious being put on them so the result is t

hat the  only people who will ever want a one-to-one or a one-on-one you say in Canada which is rather  embarrassing in England that means having sex having sex with a prostate but a one-on-one  according to my cfre that's that's a No-No but a one-on-one meeting is only wanted either by  somebody who is quite lonely and alone in which case meet them because they want to chat over a  nice cup of coffee in a local cafe or something like that or by the wealthy the wealthy if they're  a major if you

've got a major donor campaign and they've let's say paid for a special project  they will contact you to say look can I put a gift of my world towards the long-term security of the  project that I paid for and of course they can if they want to um because that gives them a slight  reissue great reassurance that their generosity and philanthropy would be remembered for years  to come I think the difficulty we have is and this is where it is totally weird to be  perfectly honest is whether anybod

y's going to tell you what they're going to do so how  many of you if you have a will already and I hope some of you have how many of you go around  to the local bar you talk to your friends and say do you know what I've got a will no we  don't not unless you're aware they like me um you just don't you just don't you don't  talk about it and why should I tell the charity because what is the charity going to do with  it you get a telephone machine oh you're that child oh gosh you're ill as well h

ow exciting you  know I mean it's just not nice so the result is that most people don't want to tell you and  you certainly don't ask for a pledge in the middle of a financial crisis because nobody has  any idea how long they'll be able to keep their gift in their will for so you can say if you  let us know your intentions we can at least say thank you which is what we really really like  to do yep um and that can be done in any way now the other thing I would do digitally very  important is the

re has to be a legacy video it has to be on your website a legacy video with  a storytelling that Joanne knows just as well as I do and probably all of you do too because a  video brings the whole campaign to life you've got the did you know which is interesting intriguing  people are inquisitive enough go and have a look I'm going to bring your campaign to life they need  to see beneficiaries and how you've changed lives whether human or animal you they need to show um  scientists who've done r

esearch they need to show a local community at church if you're a church  organization and the difference you're making they need to see that bringing to Life video  of under two minutes long short and sharp and happy okay my last question I think it's my last  question you keep bringing up questions for me but is partnering with uh lawyers and and people  that can help promote your cause I hear that a lot thank you for the most awkward question you've  asked so far to end on the Fly is really e

xciting the answer is I don't know all the legal advisors  we meet so they can't influence a decision I would have said the best thing any non-profit can do his  partner with firms who online both on the website and Facebook to give legal advice no non-profit  is allowed to give legal advice you can't give legal advice but there are some people out there  who desperately need legal advice so I would have a separate section of your website or at the  bottom of your legacy web where you get a real

ly nice friendly kind of middle-aged nice looking  legal advisor to stay tuned it's so easy to make a will but also they can do fabulous frequently  asked questions which can feature on digital as well such as um I just I've got a husband and two  kids I don't need a will do I what actually you do if you want to have freedom of choices to who you  leave it to within the inheritance laws of Canada um and I just got divorced what happens if I've  got a will and I get divorced I'm living with a par

tner do I need a will and why because all of  these questions are the ones that drive people to their legal advisors and that gives action  outcome for legacy so Partnerships are good um but it must be that legal advisor who's giving  the legal advice and not the non-profit so partner with get them to do some did you know questions  on your Facebook pages and give a nice link to their services so that somebody can make a will  through them but also make sure the frequently asked questions are on

your web at the bottom of  the Alexa web pages yeah that makes perfect sense I was with an organization that kept pressuring me  to go out and build these relationships and I get I get they don't they can't influence people we  can do you know they can put on their website that about us but or they can have brochures about us  but yeah I mean I think the answer is they don't they they can't Force anything on anybody but  they can influence change by giving demystifying Will making and how simpl

e it is that's the  important thing everything should be simple yeah perfect well that answers my questions was  there anything that you wanted to add in closing I just want people to remember apart from the  one percent I want to remind people that it is a way of giving that it's just so easy to do  the legalese is just not needed there and it is so popular and just remember the older you  get the more you think about your will and your um you know your whole future and we all really  should pl

an it and if you give people a really good reason to plan it you will get loads  and loads of legacies and just don't forget Canada's getting about 1.5 billion dollars a year  from from gifts in world and it is growing at a rate of knots out there and it is in this country  and about 30 other countries around the world so you'll be joining the normals if you do it Legacy  oh my God it's not it's simple easy and high value thank you Richard I am going to link your book  and your contact informati

on and everything in the description and on the show notes on  uh the podcast because I'm going to put you on our podcast too this was great this  was wonderful all right well you take care of yourself and great to link up with you and I  hope um it goes viral [Music] thank you [Music]