Building a strong future for legacies

May 17, 2024

The ILM Annual Conference took place on Friday, 10 May and was heralded a huge success.

Around 300 delegates gathered at etc.venues in London’s Bishopsgate to hear a packed agenda of speakers, award presentations and panel discussions, as well as enjoy the opportunity to network with their peers and make new contacts.

James Stebbings and Matthew Lagden presenting the Love Your Legacy Manager Campaign

James Stebbings opened proceedings by thanking the sponsors and saying it was a “huge privilege and an honour” to be Chair of the ILM, before taking the audience through its values, vision, mission and strategic goals.

With an emphasis on communication, he said: “The ILM tries to be the voice of legacy managers, we need to be known beyond this room, that’s why there will be a real focus on communications – sometimes an external voice is more important than an internal one.”

All of which set ILM CEO Matthew Lagden up to both announce the results of a recent Today’s Wills & Probate survey, and the launch this autumn of a brand new Love Your Legacy Manager campaign.

Aimed at senior leaders within the charity sector, this will include a CEO information pack, a social media campaign and working with ACEVO, the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations.

Panel Discussion – Approaches to Property in an Uncertain Environment

Moving on to the main agenda, this year the main focus was on property, with sponsors providing insights into topics such as developments in planning law from Shakespeare Martineau, a property market update from Berrys, and the role of auctions in legacy disposals, succinctly explained by Savills.

The challenges of dealing with listed buildings (yes, the listing does apply inside and out), what to what to consider when looking at sale potential for a piece of land, and the intricacies of a Local Plan all featured in the presentations.

Particularly popular was a panel discussion entitled Approaches to Property in an Uncertain Environment, where the delegates responded to questions taken from real-life scenarios, featuring everything from disgruntled neighbours to gazumping.

One of the issues that garnered the most attention was that of charities dealing with the difficulties of selling leasehold retirement flats, a topic that struck a chord with around half of all delegates and is set to be returned to at a later date.

Away from the property arena, the Hugh James team provided a contentious probate update with its very own music-themed Top of the Cops, which ranged from undue influence to will forgery and assisted suicide/mercy killing.

As ever, Legacy Foresight provided valuable overview and insight with a State of the Nation presentation, which looked at both the short and long term outcomes for the legacy sector.

Wrapping up the day, James thanked the speakers, sponsors and delegates, saying he hoped they had found it both interesting and informative, concluding: “Your commitment to the ILM is what makes today special – I have loved it and we will hopefully see you all next year.”