The Story: For many years, the University of Sheffield has enjoyed success in its legacy fundraising through simple personalised messaging via various channels. However, they decided that it was time to trial a proactive legacy mailing in a bid to increase enquiries about leaving gifts in Wills.
The Story: For many years, the University of Sheffield has enjoyed success in its legacy fundraising through simple personalised messaging via various channels. However, they decided that it was time to trial a proactive legacy mailing in a bid to increase enquiries about leaving gifts in Wills.
The Brief: To create a legacy fundraising direct mail piece to go out to the University of Sheffield’s donors and supporters to raise awareness about leaving a gift in their Will, encourage enquiries, educate them about the University’s vision and strength areas and demonstrate the transformational impact of giving philanthropically to education.
Our Response: We based the pack around the concept of ‘Shape the Future’ as a way of bringing in the nostalgia of the University’s creation and Sheffield’s history as a steel working city, whilst also tying in the University’s future vision and ambitions – the impact of which will be felt far beyond the University through their ground-breaking research.
We also recognised that the impact of legacy giving is often not felt for many years, so it was important to create a pack which is informative and useful which recipients would want to hold onto before deciding to alter their Will if they weren’t yet ready to do so.
Why it Works: The pack tells a compelling story of how donations can change lives: starting from how the University was forged by donations from the people of Sheffield, how it has already changed lives in Sheffield and beyond, and how gifts in Wills will continue to shape the future. Paired with a practical informational factsheet about how to actually leave a gift in your Will, the pack both inspires and educates.
The infectious enthusiasm of the signatory, Philanthropy Manager David Meadows, is also an important aspect we wanted to bring to life in the letter. By writing it in his tone of voice, including his personal contact details and including a campus-tour video he put together, it’s hard to ignore the passion he feels for the future of
his University.
Results: The mailing was sent to just over 4,000 contacts and within two months, 3 legacy pledges had been made, with a further 3 new intenders and multiple requests for further information; as well as over £6,000 in cash donations.
Recognising the power of legacy giving