Remember A Charity
Tuesday, September 7th, 2010Gifts in wills form the foundation of charities in the UK. Many depend on these legacies, and without them they simply wouldn’t exist. For example, six out of ten lifeboat launches by the RNLI are only made possible by gifts in wills. And it’s not just the larger charities that benefit from legacies, as over 75% of the costs of caring for the animals at Battersea Dogs and Cats Home are also met by gifts in wills.
Remember A Charity is the biggest single-issue campaign in the voluntary sector, made up of more than 140 member charities. Set up in 2000, the consortium aims to encourage more people to consider leaving a gift to charities in their will, once they’ve looked after their family and friends.
By taking a family first, charity second approach, and by making legacy giving relevant for ordinary people, the campaign has taken great steps forward to change public opinion whilst growing the market. Recent research has proven that an increasing number of people are leaving legacies, as a reported 35% of the UK are now happy to consider leaving a small amount to charity in their will.
The UK legacy market is currently worth more than 25 times the amount raised by Comic Relief every year, but just a 4% change in behaviour would raise a further £1 billion for good causes every year. Our research has shown that there is real potential to grow this market and make legacy giving a social norm, not an exception.
Last year saw the introduction of our very first Remember A Charity Week, designed to raise awareness of legacies. Fronted by Margaret Mountford of The Apprentice, the campaign reached over 21 million people nationwide.
This year, our annual awareness week aims to reach an even wider audience than ever before. Taking place from 13-19 September, it has been billed by organisers as potentially one of the biggest UK cross-charity campaigns.
During the week our member charities will be running their own PR activities, using a selection of branded materials including teabags and ribbon to help promote the campaign. The materials will encourage people to take a moment to think about their favourite charity and what a legacy could do for them. Arthritis Research UK will be branding all their charity shops nationwide, The Children’s Society will be giving away free teabags with purchases in their shops and Guide Dogs will tie yellow ribbon to their dogs’ collars.
This year’s Remember A Charity Week will also include a “Legacies through a Lens” photography exhibition at the Oxo Tower in London. The exhibition will showcase photographs taken by various celebrities including Gordon Ramsay, Dame Judi Dench, Timothy Spall and Alexandra Burke, capturing the work of legacies and the difference they can make to a charity and its beneficiaries.
As a campaign we’ve challenged ourselves with the task of generating mass behaviour change to make leaving gifts in wills a social norm. Our research has shown that at present just 18% of wills written each year include a charitable bequest, despite over 70% of adults in the UK regularly giving money to charity during their lifetime. In order to increase this figure and bring about a change in attitudes towards charitable giving in wills, we need your help. By asking the right questions at the right time you can make sure that your clients take care of everything that is important to them – family, friends and charities. This way we can all make a difference to the world we leave behind.
Our research has also shown that at present 14% of professional advisers never mention charitable bequests unless prompted by their client, and only 31% always mention charities. To make leaving gifts in wills the social norm, we need professional advisers like you to raise the idea of legacies with their clients, after they have taken care of their family and friends. By doing this we can help grow the legacy market and really make a difference.
For further information about Remember A Charity or for details on including a charity in your will, please visit www.rememberacharity.org.uk or contact us on 020 7840 1030.
Gifts in wills form the foundation of charities in the UK. Many depend on these legacies, and without them they simply wouldn’t exist. For example, six out of ten lifeboat launches by the RNLI are only made possible by gifts in wills. And it’s not just the larger charities that benefit from legacies, as over 75% of the costs of caring for the animals at Battersea Dogs and Cats Home are also met by gifts in wills.
Remember A Charity is the biggest single-issue campaign in the voluntary sector, made up of more than 140 member charities. Set up in 2000, the consortium aims to encourage more people to consider leaving a gift to charities in their will, once they’ve looked after their family and friends.
