The art and science of legacy giving

Thanks to brain imaging technology and the explosion of neuroscience, we know eight times more about how the human brain actually works than we did just thirty years ago. This course will offer you the chance to acquire the most up-to-date knowledge available about why people make gifts in their will – and more importantly, how you can persuade them to do so!

We will look at research on who makes a gift in their will, why they do this and how COVID-19 created a new type of legacy donor. Then we’ll then dig into eight core concepts that will allow you to tap into the legacy parts of your donor’s brain.

From websites and email to digital and integrated campaigns, this course will walk you through foundational legacy theory and show you real life examples of legacy persuasion in mass marketing fundraising activities.

Learning objectives

Persuasive communication

Learn how to craft effective gift-in-will messages to legacy prospects.

Message targeting

Understand how the brain changes as donors age and how this should shape the development of legacy marketing materials.

Audience analysis

Understand who makes a will, when they do this, and why they do this.

Curriculum outline

Course outcome + origins of legacy marketing
Your legacy market
Why people write or update wills
Death avoidance
Visualized autobiography
The aging brain
Effective legacy language
Psychology of persuasion
Hierarchy of storytellers
Legacy copywriting case studies

Course details

Members $60

Non-members $120

Earn a Professional Certificate and save 40% on course registrations.

Meet the presenter

Holly Wagg

Pronouns: she/her

Partner and CEO

Good Works

Holly Wagg is Partner and CEO at Good Works. She has more than 25 years of experience in the charitable sector, with a particular strategic and tactical expertise in direct mail, legacy and digital giving. She’s also a co-author of You Can’t Take It With You: The Art and Science of Legacy Fundraising (the second edition of Iceberg Philanthropy). This is the go-to book on planned giving that shows fundraisers how you can persuade ordinary donors to make an extraordinary charitable gift through their will. Holly co-founded the Ten Oaks Project in 2004 for which she was honoured with a lifetime achievement award in the queer community before she cracked 30. She’s a widowed, and re-married, mother of six (two adopted, one bio and three step-children) who does handstands inside the office to warm up for all the CrossFit, yoga and outdoor adventure that she does outside of the office. She also is a sucker for peanut m&ms and *those* holiday Hallmark films.

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