Enhance your Free Wills Month with insights from CPRE, the countryside charity
February 19, 2025
Read on for top tips from Catherine Phillips, CPRE’s Individual Giving and Legacies Manager, or click below for the link to her full presentation.
Watch the full presentation for freeEnhance your Free Wills Month with insights from CPRE, the countryside charity
CPRE, the countryside charity has teamed up with Farewill to run legacy fundraising campaigns each year in March and October for Free Wills Month. These campaigns provide supporters with information on how to leave a gift to charity in their will, and the opportunity to write their will for free.
In March 2024 CPRE decided to do a few things differently. Here, we share what they tried to help inspire your own Free Wills Month activity.
1 – Make promotions specific
- A page just for Free Wills Month – instead of directing visitors to a general legacy homepage, CPRE developed a specific page on their website for Free Wills Month, making the supporter journey smoother and more intuitive.
- A legacy message from the CEO – the charity experimented with embedding a video message from their Chief Executive on the page to highlight the importance of legacy gifts and encourage engagement.
- Free Wills Month homepage takeover – for the first 2 weeks of March CPRE’s website homepage prominently featured Free Wills Month messaging, which they phased out with a secondary placement later in the month.
2 – Target multiple marketing channels
CPRE leveraged a variety of internal channels to promote Free Wills Month, recognising that different audiences engage through different mediums. Some of their most effective tactics included:
- Sending supporters to dedicated pages on Farewill to track performance across multiple channels – CPRE ensured each of their marketing channels linked to its own page on Farewill. Using Farewill’s data dashboard they tracked and logged activity to more accurately compare the effectiveness of each channel.
- Supporter e-newsletters – a monthly newsletter sent to supporters proved to be the highest driver of leads
- Member magazine ads – a tailored advert in their member postal magazine yielded positive results
- Internal newsletters – as a federated organisation, CPRE used internal newsletters to inform regional groups, increasing awareness of their legacy programme.
3 – Seize unexpected opportunities – the power of authentic storytelling
One impactful element of CPRE’s strategy came from an unexpected source – a timely message from a supporter sharing that they were leaving a substantial legacy gift in their will to the charity. Seizing this fantastic opportunity, the CPRE team engaged with the supporter to understand their motivations, and secured permission to use their story as a testimonial.
CPRE integrated this new case study into their Free Wills Month webpage, and followed up with an email to legacy inquiries. This extra content increased awareness of the emotional benefits of leaving a gift and, so far, has converted at least one additional pledge.
Looking ahead
Building on these successes, CPRE is planning several future initiatives. Request the full presentation from Farewill to find out more about what they have planned. If you’re already a Farewill partner, get in touch with your Account Manager to find out more.
Catherine’s key takeaways to try for your Free Wills Month:
- Test and track everything – from dedicated URLs to different content formats, tracking performance enables data-driven decision making
- Streamline the supporter journey – a dedicated webpage with clear calls to action improves engagement
- Harness internal communications – traditional methods such as newsletters and print advertisements can be effective
- Use personal stories to drive impact – case studies add authenticity and resonance to legacy messaging
By continuously learning, refining strategies, and embracing new opportunities, you can build a robust and sustainable legacy giving programme!
Watch Catherine’s full presentation for free