Maximising your charity’s legacy income: 10 top tips
Does your charity receive legacy income from gifts in wills? If so, ensuring it receives its full entitlement in an appropriate and timely manner is paramount. Legacy stewardship can be more complex than you think. If you don’t have a legally qualified legacy team member in place, you may wish to consider external support.
Here, Gaynor Lanceley, Head of Legacy Administration at Shakespeare Martineau, shares her top tips when dealing with legacy gifts …
- Ensure your charity subscribes to a legacy notification service so you can be involved in the estate administration from the start. This will help you to negotiate legal fees and disposals of estate assets such as property, businesses or shares etc. This will also help you to create a pipeline of anticipated legacy income and support your budgeting processes.
- Liaise with executors or their solicitors from the outset so they are aware you have been notified of the gift to ensure you receive the full amount due to your charity, in a timely manner.
- Provide the executors or their solicitors with your charity details and a point of contact to avoid the gift being paid to another organisation!
- Request copies of the documents you need (the will, estate accounts, property valuations etc) to comply with Charity Commission guidelines and satisfy your auditor at financial year end.
- In estates with a large number of charitable residuary beneficiaries, appoint a Lead Charity to act as spokesperson for all to ensure legal fees are kept as low as possible and you maximise the value of the estate for distribution.
- If you do not have legal knowledge, arrange for all legal documents to be reviewed by a professional. It’s easy to misunderstand technical documents that you may not have come across before.
- If your charity is asked to make an “ex gratia” payment to a beneficiary who has not been included in the will, it is recommended that you take professional advice prior to agreeing to this. A solicitor can check the circumstances of the request and advise you in accordance with the recent changes to such gifts as set out in the Charities Act 2022.
- If you feel there is an issue with the administration of the estate (such as non-communication or delay) then seek professional advice as early on as possible. This will avoid further issues later on and will speed up the receipt of the funds due to your charity.
- If your charity legacy team is overwhelmed with work or you don’t have a legacy officer in place, then do bear in mind you can instruct a legacy administrator to act for you to ensure your gifts are received in a timely manner. They can also help advise you regarding complex wills and trust provisions and can offer legacy training to your team.
- Ensure donor stewardship opportunities are fully explored and that your supporters, and their families and friends, are thanked in an appropriate manner. This will ensure they are retained as supporters for the future or may be invited to participate in future legacy marketing campaigns.
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