Job Description

Position:Legacy Manager

Reports to:Head of Individual Giving

Salary: Sense salary points39 -42

Job Purpose

Over a quarter of Sense’s voluntary income comes from gifts in wills. The Legacy Manager is responsible for developing and implementing and managing Sense’s legacy marketing and administration programme in order to increase income from legacies and to develop and grow our database of Legacy Pledgers.

Key Objectives

  1. To actively promote legacy messages to key priority audiences
  1. To significantly increase the number of legacy pledgers
  1. To develop and implement a programme to steward legacy pledgers
  1. To create and maintain an effective legacy culture within Sense
  1. To manage the Legacy Administration consultants and to work with them to maximise legacy income through the effective and timely administration of bequests and maintenance of records to inform forecasting.
  1. To work with the Head of IG to continue to develop Sense’s ability to forecast likely legacy income.
  1. To work alongside the Community Fundraising team to help shape and implement an appropriate supporter journey for in-Memory Donors to Sense.

Tasks and Responsibilities

Legacy strategy and operational plan

Working closely with the Head of IG, to be responsible for the development of the legacy marketing strategy and its successful implementation

To develop, execute and monitor Legacy Fundraising operational plans and manage the Legacy Fundraising budget.

To provide written and verbal reports on legacy fundraising, including clear, accurate and realistic financial updates and forecasts.

To monitor performance against budget and where appropriate against external benchmarks, and to ensure that all aspects of Legacy Fundraising are carried out in the most cost effective and efficient way.

Promoting legacy messages and increasing the number of legacy pledges

In consultation with the Head of IG and the Individual Giving team, to be responsible for developing and producing printed legacy communications to all key target groups, including Individual Giving donors and other stakeholder audiences to drive growth in legacy Pledger, Intender and Enquirer numbers and to build on the legacy pipeline to drive Sense and Sense International legacy income

To seek out and maximise on the opportunities for legacy promotion of Sense and Sense international in key journals and periodicals and devise ways to monitor their impact

To identify and attend significant events (throughout the UK) where Sense’s agreed key legacy target audiences will be present, in order to maximise all opportunities for face to face presentation of legacy messages.

To develop a range of presentations, appropriate to the interests and needs of each key audience, seeking technical advice where appropriate.

To develop and maintain a close working relationship with the wider IG team in order to develop joint plans for and manage the communication of legacy messages to the wider donor base.

To project manage all elements of direct marketing solus legacy appeals, including analysis of results.

To work closely and meet regularly with the SST and Data team to identify opportunities for improving our communications with pledgers and, and with prospective pledgers or in memoriam givers.

Through regular communications and dialogue, to develop and maintain strong working relationships with all teams within Sense responsible for internal and external communications, particularly with fundraising teams and those who act as gatekeepers to key audiences, such as members,community groups, Trading and Volunteering

To develop detailed and appropriate contact strategies with all key target audiences, using all appropriate media, in order that we can both communicate legacy messages/recruit pledgers effectively and efficiently, and also service their needs where possible.

To research and assess the ongoing legacy information needs of prospective Sense pledgers and other key stakeholders, including staff; to meet these needs through the supply of information, in the most appropriate format

To explore consortia and discounted Will writing opportunities for Sense and Sense international

Developing the loyalty of supporters who have pledged a legacy

To be responsible for reviewing the profile and source of legacy pledgers, and the development of appropriate contact strategies, designed to involve pledgers as stakeholders in Sense and to develop their loyalty to the organisation

To research and assess the ongoing information needs of Sense pledgers, and to meet these needs through the supply of timely and where appropriate, regular information.

To work closely with the Individual Giving and Supporter Services, and other teams, to ensure that communications sent to legacy pledgers are appropriate at all times.

Creating and maintaining an effective legacy culture in Sense

Working closely with the Head of Individual Giving and other members of the Fundraising Management Team, to be responsible for the development and implementation of a comprehensive internal communications plan for legacies, as part of our strategy to build a ‘legacy culture’.

To be responsible for training new staff at Pentonville Road about Legacies through the ‘induction process’, and to seek opportunities to train all key managers within Sense.

To develop contacts with and train key Senior and other Managers at Sense in how best to communicate legacy messages at key public speaking and external training engagements.

To play an active role in regular Fundraising Review Meetings, ensuring that legacy marketing is considered within all relevant operational planning discussions.

Maximising legacy income through effective and timely administration

To manage the Legacy Administration consultant and be prepared to undertake occasional legacy administration to avoid any backlogs.

To constantly maintain a high degree of familiarity with the details and level of the administration caseload in order to monitor and advise the Legacy Administration consultant effectively.

To brief the Head of Individual Giving on all significant issues requiring decisions in relation to complicated and contentious probate cases.

To maximise all opportunities that could arise from regular contact with professional and personal executors.

Other tasks and responsibilities

To monitor and maintain an awareness of current trends and new developments in legacy marketing, changing probate/taxation legislation, sector regulations, forecasting models and competitor activity, to ensure that Sense actively considers all new opportunities and responds quickly to any relevant changes in the marketplace.

To maintain a high degree of flexibility within the team, in order to respond quickly to any new opportunities.

To ensure that the fundraising database is used effectively for Legacy fundraising.

To ensure that all Legacy Fundraising activities comply with the Data Protection Act and the Fundraising Regulator.

To ensure that Legacy fundraising activities comply with Sense’s policies and relevant regulatory policy guidelines.

To play an active role in the wider Sense Fundraising Department, working with other fundraising managers to maximise the overall effectiveness of Sense’s fundraising.

To act in accordance with our I Statements and Equality and Diversity Policy and follow Sense policies in all aspects of the job.

As part of the Individual Giving team, the postholder may also be occasionally required to undertake other duties appropriate to the grade and relevant to the objectives of the wider team.

Sense

Person Specification

Essential
experience/qualification/working style / Desirable
experience/qualification/working style / Assessment
1 / Experience of developing and implementing Legacy Marketing Strategies within a charity. / CIM or IDM qualification or similar
Experience of commissioning printed marketing materials.
Experience of developing a legacy case for support / Application form and interview
2 / Experience of setting and successfully managing an annual budget, and monthly reporting and reforecasting. / Application form and interview
3 / Strong presentation and interpersonal skills, with the ability to convey information in an engaging and appropriate way to the public, key supporters, colleagues and other stakeholders. / Experience of one to one solicitation of high value donations or legacies
Experience in a training or internal communications environment. / Application form and Interview
4 / Excellent written English and a flair for writing effective copy for a variety of audiences. / Application form and interview
5 / Experience in briefing and managing relationships with outside agencies/suppliers. / Application form and interview
6 / Strong computer literacy with willingness to gain full knowledge of in-house computer packages / Experience of working with Raiser’s Edge, First Class databases or other relationship databases
Working knowledge of a Windows environment, specifically Word and Excel / Application form and interview
7 / Proven ability to work under pressure, to effectively plan and prioritise a complex and varied workload, and to undertake multiple tasks concurrently / Application form and interview
8 / Self starter with ability to work on own initiative and implement new marketing programmes / Application form and Interview
9 / Experience of and desire to work as part of a team / Interview
10 / Commitment to keeping up to date with market trends and the current law as it relates to legacy marketing and administration.
/ Interview
11 / Committed to the concept of collective responsibility, with particular regard to building relationships with Sense donors and supporters. / Interview
12 / Sensitivity to, and willingness to develop an understanding of issues relating to Deafblindness and multi-sensory impairment. / Interview
13 / An understanding of, and commitment to, Sense’s I Statements and Equality and Diversity Policy. / Interview