Digital legacy fundraising
for non-profit organizations
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 use the appropriate tools to identify these people and ask for their 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, 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?
Online Will Assistant – interactive will creation on your page
With the Online Will Assistant, donors, patrons, members and other visitors to your website 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
Your partner login gives you access to real-time measurement data such as clicks, visits, transactions and leads generated via the Online Will Assistant. 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
- Report on your organization and/or with potential testators (subject to a fee)
Dein Adieu’s digital solutions and legal advice offer our patrons easily accessible and valuable support for their philanthropic commitment beyond their own lives. Thank you for the great collaboration.
Can Deniz, Partnerships & Philanthropy Manager at Biovision
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. With the Online Will Assistant, we are targeting people between the ages of 60 and 75.
Easy-to-find and clear Website
Your legacy marketing page must be easy to find. The topic of legacy/inheritance must be prominently described and the Online Will Assistant 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 Online Will Assistant for your page
- More online advance care tools for your page (Patient Decree, Advance Care Directive)
- 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 give your organization more visibility on the DeinAdieu.ch portal for visitors who visit our portal directly: Your organization will be listed at the top of the Online Will Assistant or directory.
Important: This does not apply to the fundraising tools on your page (only your organization will 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).
Webinar Service:
- Target group: Your donors
- Content: Legal presentation, demo Online Will Assistant, QA with donors via live chat
- Success measurement: Detailed tracking of registered users, interaction data including consideration request
- Duration: 50 minutes
- Conducted per year: 3x in German; 2x in French
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 in 4 languages
- Branded mails to users and from mail domain info@testamentservice.ch
- Customizable design and own start page
- 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 CHF per year excl. VAT) | CHF 1900 | CHF 2700 | CHF 3900 | CHF 5400 |
| Whitelabel solution incl. one-time setup (in CHF excl. VAT) | + CHF 5900 (white label solution per year) + CHF 1900 (one-off setup) | |||
| Top listing: Online Will Assistant (in CHF per year excl. VAT) | + CHF2400 | + CHF3400 | + CHF4900 | + CHF5400 |
| Top listing: Directory (in CHF per year excl. VAT) | + CHF1400 | + CHF1900 | + CHF2900 | + CHF3400 |
| Webinar Service (in CHF per year excl. VAT) | + CHF 600 | |||
Become a DeinAdieu.ch partner
now
We will be happy to demonstrate all the functions of our platform and the Online Will Assistant to you 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