A boost of legacy fundraising inspiration

In this guest blog, Dr Claire Routley shares why celebrating and learning from each other’s successes is key to keeping legacy fundraising fresh, creative, and impactful.

As a legacy fundraiser, it can sometimes feel that you’ve reached the limits of your creativity, especially if you’ve been in the industry for a long time. That’s when a touch of external magic can help. If you haven’t discovered it yet, The Legacy Showcase is a FREE resource, full of ideas and inspiration which celebrates some of the most innovative and impactful legacy campaigns from across the world.

The story behind the showcase

The Legacy Showcase is an initiative brought to you by Legacy Futures, Remember A Charity and SOFII. It provides a growing collection of short videos, each one voiced by a charity expert reviewer.  In their video, they share a legacy campaign they admire and explain why they feel it works and what they love about it.

The idea behind The Legacy Showcase was simple and powerful: to highlight exceptional campaigns, so that fundraisers across the sector could learn from and be inspired by each other’s bright ideas and successes. 

Legacy fundraising can sometimes feel like an isolated endeavour, but by bringing together real-world examples, the showcase fosters a sense of community, creativity, and shared purpose.

The importance of sharing great work

Recognising and sharing exceptional work isn’t just about celebrating success — it’s about lifting the entire sector. By learning from each other, we can continue to innovate and refine our approaches, ensuring that legacy fundraising remains vibrant and effective. In an ever-changing world, where charities must constantly adapt and find new ways to engage supporters, resources like this showcase offer a valuable source of encouragement and guidance.

Let’s take the time to reflect on the power of legacy fundraising, draw inspiration from the brilliant work of our peers, and continue working together to build a stronger, more impactful sector. If you haven’t yet explored The Legacy Showcase, now is most definitely the time!

How to make use of the resource

The Legacy Showcase is free for you to use, so you can jump on any time for a daily dose of inspiration. Here's how it could help you:

1. Gaining fresh perspectives - Seeing how different charities approach legacy giving can spark new ideas and strategies that you might not have considered before.
2. Learning from success - Each featured campaign in the showcase has been selected because it has had a tangible impact. Understanding what made these campaigns successful can help fundraisers refine their own approaches.
3. Making the case for investment - Sometimes, getting buy-in from senior leadership for legacy campaigns can be challenging. Being able to point to proven, high-quality examples can strengthen your case.
4. Sharing with teams - Fundraising is a collaborative effort. Sharing these campaigns with colleagues can help build enthusiasm, generate discussion, and inspire future projects.

Get involved in The Legacy Showcase 

We’re always looking for professionals in the charity sector to help us share the love and tell us which legacy campaigns they most admire. Could you nominate a campaign or recommend an expert reviewer? We’d love your help in growing the collection.

When I was invited to create my own video, the hardest part was choosing a campaign to talk about. There’s so much fantastic work happening across the sector, that picking one wasn’t easy. I eventually decided on a campaign from Australia — Biscuits, by the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research. I chose this one because of how it brought people together at a time they were more apart than ever, and all due to a small but effective idea. You can see my video here.

Being part of the initiative reminded me just how important it is to celebrate the creativity and dedication of fundraisers. Legacy giving has the potential to transform charities for generations to come, and it’s vital that we continue to recognise and share the brilliant work happening in this space.

Want to contribute?

I hope The Legacy Showcase continues to grow, bringing even more outstanding campaigns to light and reaching an even wider audience. It would be wonderful to see more fundraisers getting involved — not just by watching the videos but by contributing their own ideas for future campaigns.

If there’s a legacy campaign you love that deserves to be showcased, tell us all about it.