Dying to give?

My wife died four weeks ago. Six months from diagnosis to death from Bile Duct Cancer. All too much, too soon. The pain doesn't go away but the process of dealing with everything keeps one occupied.

It is very interesting to see how different organisations deal with the notification of death and how different some of the responses are. The banks were both very professional, sympathetic and did what they promised. Two charities, of whom she was a member, promised a call back and failed to respond. Think they'll be on my giving list?

My research shows that the death of a loved one - parent, partner or child, is probably the single most powerful trigger for charitable gifts. It is the reason people form charities and make endowments. The Princess Alice Hospice, who had been great in the last few weeks of her life, benefited from more than £1,000 of donations in lieu of flowers and will probably, in the fullness of time benefit from a gift in my will. The two I've mentioned who with four other charities were in her will for a conditional bequest, are now rather unlikely to benefit from my new will.

Those regular readers amongst you will know that I do bang on about the boomers, but with good reason. We are dying in increasing numbers and are still writing charitable wills. I suspect however we are far quicker to write charities out of our wills when they upset us. So how do we keep those existing supporters happy enough to become legators?

More of that later.

How to increase fundraising by 60%

The Irish have a plan to increase donations to charities by 60% over the next four years!
Even with a touch of the blarny that's going some. But just maybe there's something there for this present bunch of denialists (see http://www.denialism.com/2007/03/denialists.html)

The Irish are planning:

A National “Giving Campaign”, aimed at the public, high net worth individuals and corporates in Ireland to increase their giving.

Improvements to the fiscal environment and incentivising greater giving.

Development of better fundraising capacity, education and training among not-for-profits.

Creation of a National Social Innovation fund, supported by the Government and the philanthropic sector. (Backed with a massive 1.1m Euros - but it's a start).

I think what I like is the fact that there is a will to do something as opposed to spouting more rhetoric. It contrasts nicely with the HMRC's revelation today that George Osborne's concern about gift aid and tax avoidance was down to all of 320 high rate tax payers. And he still missed the point that whilst they reduced their headline tax rate, they were worse off (financially) having made the charitable gifts than if they hadn't bothered at all.

Bit early to say Baa Humbug but that's how it feels, especially with the rain pelting down and the need to turn the central heating on. Tante pis. I see the Times is selecting its charities for December appeal so it'll soon be Christmas.