Digital legacy fundraising
for Nonprofit Organisations
Why legacy fundraising?
Across Switzerland, more than 500 NGOs are contesting for a donation volume of 2.1 billion Swiss francs. In the increasingly fierce competition for donations and with ever-decreasing government subsidies, many NGOs are under great pressure to raise funds.
At the same time, more than 95 billion Swiss francs are inherited annually.1 In no other European country is so much money inherited per capita. If an NGO is considered in a will, this happens with amounts between 50’000 to 80‘000 Swiss francs.
This makes legacy fundraising the most attractive funding source for aid organisations, non-profit cultural organisations and all operational NGOs with a donor, member or supporter base. It is now time to enter this growing market.
95 billion Swiss francs are inherited in Switzerland every year.
2.1 billion Swiss francs are donated to NGOs every year.
Only 300 million Swiss francs are bequeathed to NGOs.
The potential is enormous
31% of Swiss citizens can imagine considering an NGO in their will.2
The free quota is larger
Since the introduction of the new inheritance law on January 2023, the compulsory portions for children were reduced and abolished for parents. This means, there is more free quota available.3
The market is growing
Digitalisation is fuelling stronger growth of capital income compared to wage income: 95 billion Swiss francs will continue to grow for a few more decades.4
Inheritance at retirement age
The average age of heirs today is between 60 and 65 years, and rising.4 This age group no longer needs to build up a livelihood, and is eligible as donors. The heirs are just as important to the NGOs as the testators.
NGOs recognize the potential
53% of the 120 NGOs surveyed in 2020 rate inheritances and legacies as very important in the future. Only 5% of NGOs believe that inheritances and legacies are “not very important”.5
Important Funding Source
CHF 95 billion is bequeathed annually.1 That is 50 times as much as the total annual donation volume of all NGOs, excluding inheritances and legacies. (CHF 2.1 billion).2 And over 300 times as much as is currently bequeathed to NGOs annually.
How to acquire legacies & inheritances?
Inheritances and legacies do not just happen by chance. In most cases, an emotional relationship already exists between a person and the beneficiary organization. It is important to identify these people and ask them for support with the suitable tools.
Organizations used to rely primarily on the costly mailing of heritage brochures. The response rate for such brochures is usually low and measurability is difficult.
Today, the NGO’s websites and online fundraising portals such as DeinAdieu.ch are the most important fundraising tools for non-governmental organisations (see ZEWO study, p. 6).
The Children’s Hospital Zurich receives several dozen potential bequests every year via DeinAdieu’s Will Service – without any personnel expenses on our part.
Wanda Arnet, Inheritance, Legacies and Philanthropy Manager
What services does DeinAdieu offer?
Will Generator – Interactive Will Creation on your Website
With the will generator, your website visitors can create an individual will template free of charge.
- Your organization is automatically suggested for consideration
- Contact the fundraising person in charge
- Easy to embed on your website
- Multilingual (DE, EN, FR, IT)
- 100% data protection compliant and legally secure
- Further tools: Patient Will & Advance Care Directive
Additional Functions & Tools – for integrated legacy fundraising
We provide further tools and templates in your partner login for integrated legacy fundraising.
- Free initial consultation for your donors by inheritance law specialist
- Various communication aids and templates to download
- Partner login to manage your organisation
Measure success with our reports
Access real-time measurement data such as clicks, accesses, closings and leads generated by the will generator. In addition, we offer you a wealth of other resources for your work
- Real-time tracking
- Lead generation (contacts)
- Basis for further relationship management
- Examples for thanksgiving
- Website Comparison ranking
Visibility on DeinAdieu.ch
We present your organization with its own profile and details about your projects. The person responsible for legacy fundraising is also introduced. Here you can find the directory with the profiles: to the organisation directory
You will also be present on our communication channels.
- Organisation Directory Listing
- Your own profile with your organisation’s key data
- Contact to the fundraiser
- Reportage about your organisation and/or with potential testators (additional fee)
What are the success factors?
The prerequisites for successful digital legacy fundraising are existing donors, members, stakeholders, supporters or clients. It is also advantageous to have a well-known brand that has a high level of target group loyalty, as well as your own website through which the target group can be addressed:
Target group – emotionally connected
Ideally, you have a donor database with at least a few thousand contacts that you can inform about the possibility of donating a will. Members, supporters, clients or persons otherwise emotionally connected to your organisation may also be potential testators. The emotional bond to your organisation is more relevant than a particularly generous donation in the past. The will tool is targeted towards people between 60 and 75 years of age.
Easy-to-find and clear Website
Your legacy marketing page must be easy to find. The subject of bequests/inheritance must be prominently described and the wills tool must be easily accessible. Here is an example: Werkheim Uster.
Visitor numbers – use your communication channels
Only large organisations have enough organic website visits on the topic of inheritances/legacies. Therefore, use your existing communication channels to direct your target group to the appropriate landing page. You can use physical mailings, e-mail campaigns or newsletters, social media, brochures, annual reports, webinars, etc. You will find successful example campaigns in your partner login.
Basic Subscriptions, Top Listings and Whitelabel Solution
Basic Subscription
Get all services* by DeinAdieu in a convenient subscription model.
The subscription to DeinAdieu includes:
- The will tool for your page
- More online advance care tools for your page (Patient Decree, Advance Care Directive)
- The free initial consultation for your donors by our inheritance law specialists
- A presence on DeinAdieu.ch in the directory with your own profile
- Access to the partner login with tracking, leads as well as other resources
- Free support and consulting (1 hour per year)
- Annual cancellation option up to 3 months before subscription expires
- Flexible start date
*Reportages are not included in the subscription price and will be invoiced separately.
Top listings for more visibility
- The top listings provide more visibility for your organization on DeinAdieu.ch for visitors who directly visit our portal: Your organization will be listed at the top of the will tool or directory.
Important: This does not apply to the fundraising tools on your webpage (only your organisation will always be exclusively suggested there). - The annual investment costs for the top listings are calculated depending on the total revenue volume of your organization (see table below).
Individual Whitelabel Solution
Prerequisite for the whitelabel solution is an active partnership with DeinAdieu within the framework of a basic subscription.
Scope of Services:
- No logos, contact information from DeinAdieu.ch;
- Own domain
- Branded mails to users and from mail domain info@testamentservice.ch
- Optional thank-you-page with link to the organization instead of free initial consultation
Setup Scope:
- Set up option whitelabeling
- Subscription creation
- Set up your individual domain
- Test run with partner organization and 1 hour technical support from senior software developer
| NGO Revenue in CHF | NGO smallest | NGO small | NGO medium | NGO large |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| < 2 million | 2-6 million | 6-30 million | > 30 million | |
| Basic subscription (in Swiss francs per year exkl. VAT) | CHF 1900 | CHF 2700 | CHF 3900 | CHF 5400 |
| Top-Listing: Will Generator (in CHF per year excl. VAT) | + CHF 2400 | + CHF 3400 | + CHF 4900 | + CHF 5400 |
| Top Listing: Directory (in CHF per year excl. VAT) | + CHF 1400 | + CHF 1900 | + CHF 2900 | + CHF 3400 |
| Whitelabel Solution incl. one-time setup (in CHF excl. VAT) | + CHF
5900 (Whitelabel solution per year) + CHF 1900 (one-time setup) | |||
Become a DeinAdieu.ch partner
now
We will be happy to demonstrate all the functions of our platform and the will generator during an online meeting. Take advantage of our seven-plus years of digital legacy fundraising practice, and attract potential legatees.
What other fundraisers say about us:
Sources
1: «Switzerland is inheriting more than ever before: 95 billion almost tax-free francs», NZZ/Marius Brülhart, 10.12.2019
2: Donor Report Switzerland, Swissfundraising and Stiftung Zewo, Edition 1, Dec. 2019. 2019
3: Botschaft vom 29. August 2018 zur Änderung des Schweizerischen Zivilgesetzbuches (Erbrecht), https://www.admin.ch/opc/de/federal-gazette/2018/5813.pdf
4: Zusätzliche Milliarden für Schweizer NGOs erwartet – Interview mit Dr. Brülhart (HEC Lausanne), DeinAdieu, 7.10.2020, https://www.deinadieu.ch/zusaetzliche-milliarden-fuer-schweizer-ngos/
5: Report on the survey «Instruments of inheritance and legacy marketing» from DeinAdieu.ch, Zurich, September 2020, read more here