Marking Remember A Charity Awareness Week, which runs from 8-15 September, the Co-operative Legal Services (CLS) has been recognised as the first corporate organisation to raise £15m in potential gifts to charities, via the wills created for its customers.
This follows a recent parliamentary enquiry into charitable giving, which recommended legacy gifts as a vital route to boost charity funds.
As part of proactive activity to increase consumer awareness of charitable giving via wills, CLS has partnered with legacy fundraising campaign, Remember a Charity (RaC) since 2012. Through this partnership, CLS has shared tried and tested methods with both RaC and the cabinet office, helping to evidence the view that proactive prompts directly increase the donations pledged to charity via wills.
Further highlighting the success of this approach, CLS has now reached the milestone of raising over £15m in potential charitable donations and has become the first corporate to be awarded a Yellow Plaque. In place since 2012, the Yellow Plaques scheme is operated by RaC and recognises the contributions made by organisations to charitable legacies.
Commenting on this milestone, Matt Howells, managing director for The Co-operative Legal Services said: “Legacy giving is a vital stream of income for many charities and we’re incredibly proud to have reached the milestone of £15m in donations. This figure continues to grow and it’s fantastic to see our customers being recognised for their generosity.”
“Working closely with charities from within the communities in which we operate is evidence of our group purpose in action. Increasing awareness of legacy donations is just one of the many examples of how we’re championing a better way of doing business for our customers and their communities”.
Rob Cope, director of Remember A Charity, said: “Inspired by the blue plaques awarded by English Heritage, the Remember A Charity Yellow Plaque scheme aims to recognise the contribution made by charitable legacies.”
“The Co-operative Legal Services are the first corporate company to be awarded the honour. It’s an acknowledgement of their great work in raising awareness of leaving a charitable gift in a will, which helps to ensure the invaluable work of the nation’s favourite charities lives on.”
For 2014, the top ten charities to have benefited via potential donations within the wills created by CLS are:
- Cancer Research UK
- MacMillan Cancer Support
- RNLI
- NSPCC
- Dogs Trust
- Cancer Research
- Cats Protection
- Oxfam
- Red Cross
- RSPCA
For further information about The Co-operative Legal Services and its partnership with Remember A Charity, visit their website.
Content managed by The Co-op Group.
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