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Hi there,
My name is Michael, and I am one of the Content Associates here at FreeWill. I’m writing to you from my family home in Massachusetts, which I’ve been sharing with my parents and five siblings over the past few months due to the pandemic. It’s a bit cramped (something I’m sure many of you can relate to!) but fun to be back together — I’ve played more backgammon with my dad than I thought was humanly possible.
Even from my home office, my favorite part about working at FreeWill is watching the number of people using our tools grow — and seeing the rising number in bequests to some really amazing nonprofits. And this summer I’ve seen more success than ever before. A few statistics for you: as compared to last summer, this summer we have seen a 1.9x increase in the number of wills created, and a 3.8x increase in the number of bequests.
There are a number of factors that likely play into this increase, like the rising comfortability in online will-writing tools and an increased demand for estate planning this year. But one major factor is you, our partners: your outreach and donor engagement has helped to rapidly expand the number of people writing wills, and creating gifts, through our sites. I’ve been particularly happy to see Make-a-Will Month campaigns in my inbox nearly every morning this month.
Some campaigns that have particularly caught my eye were FreeWill partners who “cast a wide net” and sent outreach to list sizes with well over a million supporters. The outcome has been jaw-dropping, yielding great results in terms of wills written, bequests generated, and money raised for these nonprofits.
These campaigns have relayed the importance of sharing FreeWill with as wide an audience as possible. I know a million-person email list isn’t typical, or possible, for many nonprofits. But there are creative ways to expand your list size, or use existing audience segments, to make FreeWill as successful as possible.
To help you get started, we’ve put together this resource to provide tips and strategies to expand your FreeWill audience. Some highlights include utilizing audiences like volunteers, staff, and board members, using surveys (like our very own PulseCheck!) to identify new planned giving prospects, and leveraging existing outreach channels (direct mail, social media, etc.) to get your supporters on board.
I also wanted to share a few more FreeWill resources to ensure you organization is best supported as you begin planning for end-of-year outreach:
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