Meet the experts: Jon Jacques

Jon Jacques , global fundraising specialist for legacies at Amnesty International , talks to Legacy Futures about his path to a senior career in legacy fundraising, why he’s still loving it after 17 years, and why the world of legacies is more about everyday joy than just ‘death and taxes’. 

Hi Jon, tell us how you got into legacies?

It was 2007, when I joined charity agency Whitewater from the commercial sector, that I first heard of legacy marketing. I was seeking a stronger sense of purpose in my career, which as an animal lover, I was thrilled to achieve by working with my then client, RSPCA.  

I learned that a significant proportion of the charity’s income came from gifts in wills and that it offered supporters a will-based service called ‘Home for Life’, through which it promised to re-home pets should their owners outlive them. It’s a legacy ‘product’ that enhances lives by providing peace of mind and continued companionship for the will maker and future legacy income to continue the charity’s care of animals long into the future. It wasn’t depressing or negative, but positive and life-affirming. 

Moving from agency to in house

Thinking about the scale of future financial return on what I could deliver with my professional skills and my available time, I realised that the biggest personal ‘impact’ I could make was by inspiring people to consider leaving legacies to charity. It was this desire that motivated me to move into a dedicated in-house legacy role at British Red Cross (BRC) as direct marketing manager for legacies in 2010.  

What challenges did you encounter when rising to your senior position?

I quickly learned that there are so many channels you can use to inspire legacy giving, not just the marketing ones I was used to working with in the agency world. It’s true that ‘people give to people’, and this led me to pick up new skills, primarily telephone fundraising. 

To expand your knowledge of legacies, you often have to move organisations, because many charities have different organisational structures and strategies for engaging supporters.  

I sometimes wonder if I would have gained the same insight into the many approaches and skills necessary to deliver them if I’d stayed in one organisation. In my current global legacy role at Amnesty International, I’m continuing to develop my skills by understanding how other cultures engage with legacy giving and how best to influence charity boards to invest in legacies. Legacy fundraising requires an extremely diverse skill set. 

What keeps you motivated in your role?

The new challenges and the exponential impact I can have in terms of future legacy income from working in markets all over the world. I’m able to use skills and knowledge honed in the UK to help adapt and develop campaigns that are effective within different countries.  

The continuous learning keeps me excited, particularly my own growth in understanding how different markets and relationships with donors function. I work with around 25 Amnesty sections around the world, including the Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific. I love learning about how they do things in other regions. In Spain and Argentina, for instance, they call legacy gifts ‘solidarity wills’ — what a fantastically descriptive term! 

What would you say has been your ‘finest hour’ in your career?

Being heavily involved in introducing legacy ads to TV when I worked for British Red Cross (BRC). We launched our first TV campaign in 2012. Before this, other charities had broadcast a legacy ask, but not many and not at the same scale. It was very well received and created quite a stir at the time.  

At the time, Mark Astarita (who sadly passed in April 2024) was BRC’s director of fundraising, and the legacy campaign wouldn’t have happened without him. He was a huge influence and a major champion of legacies. Recognising that half the people who left gifts to BRC weren’t previously known to the organisation, he backed the team all the way in securing investment for this integrated campaign. It was a demanding project to manage and to deliver, but it’s something I’m very proud of. 

What advice would you give to junior colleagues with aspirations of doing a job like yours in the future?

Really understand the nuts and bolts of any campaign you’re delivering and what contribution it’s making towards the bigger needs of the organisation in the long term. Know why you’re doing it and what your key measures are. Ultimately, use it to understand the strategy underpinning the levers you’re pulling with the investment you’re given and how you might achieve more, potentially with less. 

Make sure your experience is as broad as possible and covers many different channels. For instance, get involved in in-person events where you can meet supporters and build this perspective into all your campaigns. All fundraising comes together in legacies. That's what’s unique about it!  

Are there unique skills and qualities needed to rise to a leadership position in legacy marketing?

Essential personal qualities include enthusiasm, passion, the ability to communicate effectively and inspire with multiple audiences. For senior roles, you’ll need team management skills and the empathy and vision to create a nurturing environment that allows people to do their best work.  

It’s important to give your team a tangible sense on what their work inspiring gifts will go on to achieve in terms of future value. Commercial acumen is a must, as is the ability to understand and analyse data. People choose to work in the charity sector because they’re purpose driven, so as a team leader, you have to clearly demonstrate how their work will have impact and celebrate what they’ve achieved.  

Have you seen any interesting recruitment and retention initiatives in commercial or other charity organisations that you’d like to see in the legacy sector?

Apprenticeships that involve a legacy fundraising component can really help bring talented and committed people into our sector, especially into bigger charities where the wider scope of channels exposes them to the strategy of what a multi-channel approach can achieve.  

The legacy sector is often guilty of looking for a ‘perfect fit’ when hiring and seeking people already in charity sector roles. Yet, there are lots of people in other industries with transferable skills. Teachers, for example, are used to presenting stories, and that’s a key skill of a legacy fundraiser. Those from legal backgrounds can make excellent legacy professionals too. Almost always in my experience, the person who wants the role most is the best fit and they can sometimes come from left field. Recognising their drive and taking a chance has paid off in the past. 

What would you say to people about what working in legacies is really like?

I’d love it if more people knew how exciting it is to work in legacies. Every day is different and there’s so much variety. One day you could be working with the creative team and the next speaking with supporters at an event. You get to work with solicitors well as with agencies on strategy, creative and media buying or to collaborate with other charities as a consortium to change public behaviour. You have so many levers to pull to deliver outcomes. 

It’s rarely about death and taxes. It’s about the joy of supporting a cause you value. I’d like to see a feature or an interview on stage at a recruitment fair about a day in the life of a legacy marketer just to promote how exciting and diverse it is and what impact you can have. People tend to fall into legacies as a career but if they knew what it really involved, they’d flock through choice!  

Do you see a pathway for legacy marketers to become directors?

This is a difficult, but really important question to address. I don’t see nearly as many legacy fundraisers going on to become directors of fundraising as there should be, which, given the talent across the sector, indicates there might be an issue. 

The wide-ranging skills and extensive channel knowledge that legacy fundraisers hold from managing relationships with supporters or leading large teams, to delivering large brand inspired campaigns, seem rarely to be recognised by senior charity leaders when recruiting for directors. It could be that there’s a perception problem or knowledge gap, but this needs to change given the staggering opportunity for wealth transfer from legacy gifts that will take place in the next 25 years. 

How do you see the future of legacies?

Legacies is such a creative and exciting environment. There’s no single tried and tested model that fits every charity to achieve income growth from legacies. There's plenty of scope for innovation, especially in what I call the legacy funnel in digital channels. There are many aspects to the puzzle of what inspires legacy giving and plenty of opportunities for those with the enthusiasm to investigate them.   

Thanks to Jon Jacques, Amnesty International, for contributing.