Time to debunk some myths around legacies!

February will witness a landmark moment for the UK hospice sector with the launch of the first ever national legacy campaign. Congrats to Hospice UK for getting the buy in to make it happen.

I am not privy to the detailed plans of the campaign (and there is no reason why I should be!) But I have long been an advocate of legacy marketing. As well as writing previous articles, in 2021 I set up the Hospice Legacy Circle with Legacy Futures. 

We have since had nearly 50 hospices involved - hearing case studies, sharing ideas and experiences and benefiting from access to the best legacy research and analysis.

Given the forthcoming campaign, this is a good time to debunk some of the myths related to this vital income stream.

1. Legacy Marketing needs large budgets.

Day time TV adverts and national press campaigns by big charities helped develop this idea. In fact, as much of the best practice shared in the Hospice Legacy Circle has showed, great legacy marketing does not need six or seven figure budgets. 

The use of short-to-the-point messages in all hospice literature (yes, including that for patients), some well designed posters and impactful web pages can make a big difference. 

But effective legacy marketing does need cultural buy in and support. I find it ironic when hospices run campaigns to encourage more openness about death and dying, but think talking about legacies is inappropriate or even unethical. 

Studies show that legacies give you the best ROI of any fundraising mechanism. But the actual spend does not have to be too high to achieve this.

2. Legacy Marketing only works in the long-term

This partly depends upon how you define the long term. However, we now have evidence that the ‘legacy time lag’ is shorter for hospices than other charities.

This has been provided by Smee and Ford who study every Will that goes through probate. The red bar in the chart above shows the average time for hospices between the date of the Will and the date probate is granted. This is 6.4 years. 

The lighter bar shows the average for all other charities - 7.3 years. Thus, the figure is much lower for hospices. By 13% to be precise. This is based on data since 2015. 

One obvious explanation for this is that some patients include the hospice in their Will shortly before their death. 

6.4 years is still a lengthy period of time. But any average is made up of a range of figures. To give an example, Thames Hospice received around £1 million in restricted legacies for their new build during the three years of the capital fundraising campaign. 

So, yes, legacies may take longer to realise than other income streams. But, the time is shorter for hospices than for other charities. And sometimes this is measured in months, not years.

3. Legacy income is so unpredictable, it's almost as much of a burden as a blessing

Obviously, a paucity of legacy notifications in one particular year can have a major impact. However, specialists like Legacy Futures provide a service based on statistical analysis that many charities now use to project longer term legacy income. The fact that many hospices have used this service several times indicates its value.

In my experience, the problem related to unpredictability has more often been if boards see short term figures as indicative of long term trends and over-react without looking deeper. 

This can lead to extreme retrenchment or excessive expenditure, both of which can cause difficulties if the assumptions are wrong.

Finally, whilst the national campaign is a great example of the sector coming together, hospices need to remember that their own local promotions will always have a greater impact. I was concerned to hear that one has decided to use its existing legacy budget to fund their contribution and to stop their own activity. 

It's no myth to say that, if repeated, this will have a long-term detrimental impact.