Digital legacy fundraising
for Nonprofit Organisations
Why legacy fundraising?
Over 9000 organizations in Germany compete for a donation volume of more than 5 billion euros 1). In the increasing competition for donations, fundraisers are facing great challenges.
More than 3,000 billion euros will be inherited in Germany between 2015 and 2024. Only a fraction of this ends up with organizations, although the potential would be enormous. About half of Germans are regular donors, thus showing their commitment to aid organizations 2).
Legacy/estate fundraising is thus the most attractive source of funding for organizations with a donor, member or patron base. A bequest or inheritance in favor of an organization is on average 40,000 euros 3).
The potential is huge
28% of Germans can imagine including an NGO in their will 8)
The population gladly donates
The German population likes to donate to good causes. Already today, 45% of the population donates regularly 9). A high frequency of giving signals loyalty and opens up opportunities for testamentary giving.
The market is growing
The German inheritance market is growing at around 5% per year. The inheritance volume of 300 billion euros will increase in the coming years.10)
Inheritance at retirement age
The average age of heirs today is between 60 and 65 years.11) These people no longer need to establish a livelihood and are eligible as donors. The heirs are as important to the NGOs as the testators.
NGOs recognize the potential
NGOs in Germany are intensifying their efforts. Already today, 10% of donations fall to NGOs via estate donations, and the trend is rising.12)
Substantial source of funding
Will donations are becoming an increasingly important funding source for NGOs.
The 10 largest DZI-approved organizations receive an estimated 120 million in will donations per year.13)
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. With the help of suitable tools, it is important to identify these valuable people and ask them for support.
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, a company’s own website and online fundraising portals such as DeinAdieu.de are the most important fundraising tools for non-governmental organizations.
The Children’s Hospital Zurich receives several dozen potential bequests each year through DeinAdieu’s wills service – without any personnel input on our part.
Wanda Arnet, Inheritance, Legacies and Philanthropy Manager
What services does DeinAdieu offer?
Online will for your page
With the will generator, donors, patrons, members and other visitors of your website create an individual will template free of charge and legally valid.
- Your organization is automatically suggested for consideration
- Co-branding incl. Contact the responsible fundrasing person
- Easy to embed on your website
- Multilingual (DE, EN, FR, IT)
- 100% data protection compliant and legally secure
Additional Functions & Tools – for integrated legacy fundraising
We provide further tools and templates in your partner login for integrated legacy fundraising.
- Various communication aids and templates to download
- Partner login to manage your organisation
Measurable success
Your partner login gives you access to real-time metrics such as clicks, hits, completions as well as leads that are generated via the will generator. In addition, we offer you a wealth of other resources for your work
- Real-time tracking
- Lead generation
- Basis for further relationship management
- Examples for thanksgiving
- Website Comparison ranking
Visibility on DeinAdieu.de
We present your organization with its own profile and details about your project. Find the directory here: to the organization directory
- Organisation Directory Listing
- Your own profile with your organisation’s key data
- Contact the fundraiser
- Reportage about your organisation and/or with potential testators (additional fee)
What are the success factors?
Prerequisites for successful digital legacy/estate fundraising are existing donors/members/stakeholders/benefactors 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
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, patrons, clients, or otherwise emotionally connected to your organization also come as pot. Testators in question. What is relevant here is not a particularly generous donation in the past, but the emotional connection or at best the donation frequency/loyalty. We are targeting the will tool at people between 60 and 75 years old.
Website
Your legacy marketing website, where you draw attention to your organization’s support opportunities, 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: Stiftung Denk an mich.
Number of visitors
Only large organizations have enough organic website traffic on the topic of legacies/bequests. Therefore, use your existing communication channels to direct your target audience 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* from DeinAdieu in a convenient subscription model. The subscription to DeinAdieu includes:
- The will tool for your page
- A presence on DeinAdieu.de 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.
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.de;
- Own domain
- Branded mails to users and from mail domain info@testamentservice.de
- Optional thank-you-page with link to the organization instead of free initial consultation
Setup Scope:
- Set up option whitelabeling
- Subscription creation
- Set up individual domain
- Test run with partner organization and 1 hour technical support from senior software developer
| NGO income in Euro | NGO smallest | NGO small | NGO medium | NGO large |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| < 2 million | 2-6 million | 6-30 million | > 30 million | |
| Basic subscription (in euros per year*) | 1900 € | 2700 € | 3900 € | 5400 € |
| Whitelabel-Solution incl. One-time Setup (in Euro*) | + 5900 €
(Whitelabel solution per year) + 1900 € (one-time setup) | |||
Become a DeinAdieu.de partner
now
We are happy to show you of our platform’s functions and the will generator in an online meeting. Take advantage of our seven-plus years of practice in digital legacy fundraising.
What other fundraisers say about us:
Sources
1.) German Central Institute for Social Issues (DZI). (2021). DZI Donation Statistics 2020. https://www.dzi.de/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/DZI-Spendenstatistik-2020.pdf. Page 5.
2.) German Central Institute for Social Issues (DZI). (2021). DZI Donation Statistics 2020. https://www.dzi.de/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/DZI-Spendenstatistik-2020.pdf. S. 7.
3.) Deutsches Institut für Altersvorsorge GmbH (ed.). (2015). Inheritance in Germany 2015 – 24: Volume, Distribution and Use. birkenbeul communications GmbH. http://show.dia-vorsorge.de/books/kfqk/#p=6. Own calculations.
4.) Deutsches Institut für Altersvorsorge GmbH (ed.). (2015). Inheritance in Germany 2015 – 24: Volume, Distribution and Use. Birkenbeul communications GmbH. http://show.dia-vorsorge.de/books/kfqk/#p=6. p. 42
5.) Own calculations
6.) German Central Institute for Social Issues (DZI). (2021). DZI Donation Statistics 2020. https://www.dzi.de/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/DZI-Spendenstatistik-2020.pdf. Page 5.
7.) Deutsches Institut für Altersvorsorge GmbH (ed.). (2015). Inheritance in Germany 2015 – 24: Volume, Distribution and Use. birkenbeul communications GmbH. http://show.dia-vorsorge.de/books/kfqk/#p=6. Own calculations.
8.) Fundraising Magazine. (2022, Feb. 11). More people ready for charitable bequests. Retrieved June 9, 2022, from https://web.fundraiser-magazin.de/bereitschaft-gemeinnuetziges-vererben
9.) German Central Institute for Social Issues (DZI). (2021). DZI Donation Statistics 2020. https://www.dzi.de/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/DZI-Spendenstatistik-2020.pdf. Page 7.
10.) Deutsches Institut für Altersvorsorge GmbH (ed.). (2015). Inheritance in Germany 2015 – 24: Volume, Distribution and Use. Birkenbeul communications GmbH. http://show.dia-vorsorge.de/books/kfqk/#p=6. Page 4.
11.) Fundraising Magazine. (2022, Feb. 11). More people ready for charitable bequests. Retrieved June 9, 2022, from https://web.fundraiser-magazin.de/bereitschaft-gemeinnuetziges-vererben
12.) German Central Institute for Social Issues (DZI). (2021). DZI Donation Statistics 2020. https://www.dzi.de/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/DZI-Spendenstatistik-2020.pdf. Page 15.
13.) German Central Institute for Social Issues (DZI). (2021). DZI Donation Statistics 2020. https://www.dzi.de/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/DZI-Spendenstatistik-2020.pdf. Page 21.
14.) Importance of donation and crowdfunding platforms for aid organizations in Donation Report 2021 – Zewo Study – Zweo and Swissfundraising 2021. https://zewo.ch/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Spendenreport_2021.pdf