5 Questions ...with Fay Ganney, Charity Partnerships Manager at Farewill

1. Hi Fay! How would you describe your role at Farewill in just one sentence?

Inspiring charities to grow their legacy fundraising through a beautifully designed platform so they can offer their supporters an easy-to-use free will service, supported by sophisticated analytics.

2. Can you tell us a bit about your legacy experience?

My experience in legacy fundraising began when I joined the legacy team at Cancer Research UK. A highlight was developing a proposal to move their internal free will process to an online platform. I gained experience in managing internal stakeholders and achieving buy-in to make my proposal really defensible.

My next step was a senior legacy marketing role at IFAW. Moving from a legacy department of over 100 staff to a team of 3 was a big shift in terms of the scope of my role. It meant I had the opportunity to work closely with the global legacy director to build and implement the legacy strategy for the UK. This included leading on projects such as DM mailing campaigns, legacy events, creating pledger packs for the global charity and stewarding supporters using various touch points such as handwritten cards, telephone calls and personalised newsletters.

These experiences have helped me to understand where our charity partners are coming from and what Farewill can do to ensure they're set up for success in legacy fundraising. 

Fay presenting at an IFAW legacy event

3. And what does your role look like now?

An average day consists of many things, but three key activities are:

• Running intro calls with charities who have shown an interest in working with us (it’s a great way to get to know each other and build on our relationship before we jump into the detail).

• Presenting our service to charities, demonstrating how we can help them and their supporters. In between these, I’ll be reaching out to charities we’ve seen have had gifts pledged - with my ‘charity hat’ on I know it’s always nice to be notified that you’ve got some money coming your way!

• I also make sure I set time aside each week to stay up to date with the latest understanding of how donors plan their social impact. Legacy is shifting incredibly quickly and there is always something new to consider from one of our partners, or the trends our data team can surface.

4. What's your most memorable legacy moment?

If I had to choose just one moment, reaching 200 partners this month has been a fantastic milestone. I’ve spoken with some incredible charities and truly wonderful people, and I feel humbled that each one has put their trust in me and Farewill by choosing to come on board and work with us.

5. And finally, do you have a book, video or podcast you recommend to our readers?

Dan Pallotta’s TED talk, "The way we think about charity is dead wrong”. There are some very strong points in his talk that I believe can help with both winning internal buy-in and managing challenging conversations with supporters who worry about charities “wasting money”.

That's brilliant, thanks Fay!

If you'd like to take part in 5 Questions, or if there's someone you'd like us to feature, email Hanna: [email protected]