Ocean King
Leadership & Governance
Help with In Memory fundraising?
A CharityConnect User Posted 6 years ago
Hello everyone :) long time lurker, first time poster...
I'm a community fundraiser at a small mental health charity. I'm actually about to leave my organisation at the end of the month, but one of my final projects has been reviewing our in-memory income - which, while it falls into my budget line, isn't an area we've ever really delved into.
As a mental health charity we have lots of amazing supporters who choose challenge events, community events, gala dinners, funeral collections etc. as ways to honour those they have sadly lost to mental illness. We don't know the full scale, but at present it amounts to +20% of our income, and we have a few families each year who will do quite a lot around commemoration and need more tailored stewardship.
We're a small team here and I have a few concerns/questions - I'd love some thoughts, feedback or ideas from anyone who might be able to help or has experience in in-memory giving. My successor will be attending some upcoming IoF training on this topic & legacy giving, but having respected this community for such a long time I know that your insights would be really helpful too.
- As a small charity, my role is the only one working with these fundraisers - unless they are individually giving a large amount - so we can't spend lots of time/money developing anything too bespoke, like specific events for in-memory etc. unless we can prove the ROI
- I worry about these fundraisers/donors not having a well-tailored supporter journey which takes into account the fact that they are grieving and is sensitive to their needs
- I also worry about our team internally feeling they are able to confidently work with these individuals - saying the right thing, knowing whether to send flowers/cards etc., and ensuring that the level of stewardship is standardised as much as possible - and to know when/how to sensitively follow up with these supporters after the initial fundraising period
- With a small team/budget I would love to have some more specific ways for our fundraisers and donors to commemorate those they have lost - I've seen tribute funds, specific donation pages etc.
So (apologies for the ramble) if you are from a small charity - especially if you're within research or mental health - it would be wonderful to know whether you have an in-memory policy, if there's any best practice we should be thinking of, etc. and any tips you have.
Thank you so much!
No responses yet. Be the first to reply!
{{ctrlComment.postTotalComments}} responses
Load more responses