Gifts in Wills help the University of Leeds to keep innovation and inspiration at the core of the University experience – attracting and retaining the best students for generations to come.
We were asked to inspire more alumni, supporters and staff to pledge a legacy to the University and to increase awareness of the importance of legacy giving to core audiences.
The Story: Gifts in Wills help the University of Leeds to keep innovation and inspiration at the core of the University experience – attracting and retaining the best students for generations to come.
The Brief: We were asked to inspire more alumni, supporters and staff to pledge a legacy to the University; to encourage those who have already done so to notify them of their gift; and to promote and increase awareness of the importance of legacy giving to core audiences.
Our Response: We created a new legacy proposition – Leeds is… – an idea rooted in recognising the special elements that make Leeds, Leeds.
Why it Works: Our pack format needed to be both striking and memorable because the mailing was part of an integrated campaign where mailing recipients would also receive a follow-up phone call, so recollection of the pack was important.
A large A4 format allowed us to use composite images of iconic University buildings from past years superimposed with a current day view of the same building that had been hugely popular on Leeds’ Instagram feed.
Finally, we included an invitation to an event for the Brotherton Circle – the group that pledgers belong to – in the pack and that invitation helped to dramatically improve the response times from previous packs because people wanted to attend this prestigious event.
Results: We were delighted that we beat our target across the number of enquirers, considerers and pledgers for this campaign and that over £90,000 in cash donations were also received in response – despite not including a specific ask for donations or a donation form!
Target-smashing legacy appeal