For 35 years, Comic Relief has captured the hearts of the UK public and facilitated an outpouring of generosity that has raised billions and changed countless lives in the process. Yet they have never talked about legacy giving, and as a result receive little legacy income. We found high levels of trust from a survey to 52k supporters and 35% said they were open to leaving a legacy. But only 1% had done so. Comic Relief needed a strategy to close this big gap from consideration to intention.
Legacy giving is not a sombre affair – legacy giving brings people joy. At the heart of Comic Relief’s brand is the idea that entertainment is a force for good. Humour is not a means to make light of a painful subject, but a way to gain control and use that new-found power to change the world. We developed a range of stories and types of humour to explore how they resonated with Comic Relief supporters.
We found that humour gets people’s interest, but it’s stories that move them to action. We need to use them both brilliantly. We developed a legacy strategy to close the intention gap – Humour for attention, cause for commitment. Our proposition invites people to Leave the world happier with a gift in your Will to Comic Relief.
Tribute funds… public dedications… places of remembrance… it’s all going on with charities’ in-memory products. Some of these offers work well for supporters who aren’t yet ready to close the door on their giving or fundraising after they first connect.
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The Autumn Budget has brought some big changes to the UK’s tax system, particularly in the areas of inheritance tax, capital gains tax, and pensions—all likely to have an impact on legacy giving. With charitable legacy giving exceeding £4bn in 2023/24, these changes and their possible affects are certainly worth reviewing.
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A UK charity has received £1.8 million in a landmark legal decision, after winning a contested will case with the specialist help of Legacy Link, part of the Legacy Futures Group.
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