Should I give my supporters a kit to help them change their will?

Bequests are a major source of donations from individuals. Often they are the largest source of income a charity has. In the quest for more of these donations many charities find themselves wondering… what was different about our supporters who do leave us a bequest and those who don’t?

One way of tackling this question is to consider whether some supporters knew how to change their will to include a charity, whereas most others did not. The marketing solution to this problem then becomes to encourage more bequests, a “will kit” should be created which helps people to change their will to include a charity.

But more often than not these days, most people don’t make their wills without legal support. So marketers start to consider whether promoting their charity to the legal profession is a better idea.

Each of these approaches is based on the same insight… that people will leave a bequest if they are helped to do so.

It is not surprising that marketers have sought to find ways to make it easier for people to leave a bequest.

But what fundraisers have recognized from years of failure is that just because something is easy, it doesn’t mean everyone will take part. Most charitable acts happen because someone was asked well.

So what can charities do to increase their bequest income? Ask their supporters whether they knew that they could leave money in their will, and give them plenty of reasons to do so.

If that sounds too simple, then consider carefully whether you can truthfully tell your supporters whether you’ll be changing the world, helping people, sending money effectively when that supporter dies. Once you have worked out that promise, you should give asking a go.

Does it really matter if you don’t indent your paragraphs when writing to supporters?

Probably the most important consideration when writing to supporters is to think about what they think, not what you think.

The majority of things that people choose to read in print still carry indented paragraphs. Take a look in books, newspapers, even many magazines… they still use indenting to signal a new thread within the prose.

Take a look at most of the adverts that designers have gotten their hands on, and you’ll see that indenting is cast aside as something quite old fashioned.

So try putting these two observations and then judging whether you think indenting paragraphs is appropriate for your audience.

The image above is taken from the best advert of all time… indents and all.