On Monday 3 July 2023 I had the absolute pleasure of attending the annual conference for The Institute of Legacy Management (ILM) at 155 Bishopsgate, London. Having travelled up the day before (and having enjoyed a rather lovely breakfast in a local hotel beforehand) I was pleasantly refreshed and ready to start the day.
After a brief sun filled stroll through London to the venue, we were greeted with a fantastic selection of pastries, along with tea, coffee and juices – nothing like a second breakfast to really start the day!!
Supporting Charities
With a key desire on helping charities understand the merit of any claims they receive and a desire to help protect vital legacies, we created a Charity Claim Checker – and so we decided to exhibit this year to gather feedback on our product.
The purpose behind the Checker is to allow those working within charities to instantly assess the merits of a claim when it lands on their desk. Given this is a (free!!) product for the charity sector, we wanted to get feedback and ideas from those in the know as part of our product research and testing.
Always Learning
Alongside our exhibiting, I had the pleasure of attending a number of insightful talks. One that was of particular interest was the session led by Kathryn Horsley and Jon Franklin of Legacy Foresight on the future of legacy income. They covered legacies in the context of the current political and economic climate. Specifically, Jon indicated that the two biggest factors affecting legacies right now are the recent increase in housing prices and backlogs at the Probate Registry – which anyone working within the probate sector will know are substantial!
They also predicted a continued growth in legacy income at a rate of 34%. However, given legacy income increased by 70% in the previous decade, Jon noted that this did indicate a stagnation in legacy income. He also noted that the figures had not been adjusted to take into consideration inflation, meaning that tougher times may be ahead for the charity sector.
Due to this news, Kathryn Horsley discussed the work charities can do to try and increase their legacy income over the coming years. In doing so Kathryn worked through the considerable differences to charities in pushing for numerous smaller gifts against fewer larger gifts.
Feedback is the key
The day was brought to a close with a drinks reception where everyone had the chance to catch up and meet colleagues and friends of old and new.
Throughout the day we met so many fantastic people doing so many great things in the charity sector. It was a genuine pleasure to be able to be there. Along with my colleagues Cara Hough and Lindsay Gibson, I particularly had the pleasure of meeting so many inspiring individuals. We also gained great feedback – and a number of kind volunteers who offered their assistance in product testing. You know who you are, and we (and the rest of the charity community) are grateful!
If you’re not signed up to the IDRN yet, you can register right here.
Find out more about the upcoming launch of our Charity Claim Checker.
