Maximising In-Memory Income: Promotion

6 July 2022

Promoting your tribute funds and dedication pages is a key step to a successful scheme. Here we share our top tips for sharing them with your supporters.

What to say

1. Focus on your supporters

A tribute fund, while being a great way to encourage donations, is first and foremost a bereavement care tool. It allows your bereaved supporters to remember the person they’ve lost, and celebrate their lives, all online, whatever the restrictions they may be facing.

They can connect with family all over the world, and share their memories, stories and photos, to help them grieve and help support them. Any promotion using this as the focus, with fundraising as a gentle secondary message is a safe bet and is unlikely to offend; you’re thinking of your supporters and trying to help them.

This is often a good first step in tribute fund promotion, to get your supporters used to the idea if you’ve not promoted tribute funds previously. 

2. Talk about outcomes

We know that people give to people; donors give to causes that they can empathise with and they like to see tangible results.

If you can, share how the tribute funds set up for your charity have made a difference. For example, how much the tribute funds have raised this year, and the equipment/service that this sum can pay for.

3. Real-life examples 

Case studies are a great way to demonstrate what tributes are about, and how they can help a bereaved family. If possible, build a small bank of shareable stories that you can share, with quotes and photos from existing fund holders, to share across social and print media, and your website. 

If you have a supporter willing to share their story, could they be a fund ambassador? Involving a real-life fund holder who can talk about their own experiences can promote a powerful message, which you could share in print and on your website and social media.

Top Tip: Don’t forget to look at our social media example posts on our charity support site if you’re an existing partner.

Where to say it

1. On your website

There’s no point in having some wonderful social media posts or flyers if your website doesn’t include the information your potential supporters need. The links to your tribute fund scheme need to be easily accessible and visible, and use the same language and if possible imagery as any social posts, to make it recognisable for supporters. Someone recently bereaved has a lot to cope with, so you need to make it especially easy for them. 

Explain what a tribute fund is and how it works very clearly and visibly, with obvious signposting to set up a page. A good way to engage supporters is to include the personal contact details of the In-Memory Fundraiser (if you have one) or the person responsible for this area, so that if there are any questions they can be easily answered. 

Top tip: Don’t forget about information for funeral collections, this is often the first point of contact and a good way to introduce your tribute fund scheme. 

2. Fundraising events

As well as a remembrance tool to share memories and make donations, a tribute fund page is also a central hub for fundraising events and activities for families.

For example, if a family want to host a game night in memory of an avid card player, or take on a skydive in honour of someone special, this can all be collated into their tribute fund, including photos and even videos of these special events.

The tribute fund can show the family how much they are all raising collectively, and seeing that sum increase and being able to do something tangible can be of great comfort to bereaved families. 

Families often don’t realise that all of this can be done on their unique tribute fund page, so it’s worth pointing out to them. Let your existing tribute fund holders know and spread the word to reach a wider audience of potential fund holders. 

3. Print Materials

You may want to consider having promotional materials to distribute, at events (when they can happen again) or to staff that are public-facing. Make sure that there are obvious web links back to your tribute scheme home page.

You could try different formats to deliver the information, from a simple leaflet, business card, notebook, pen, or even a bookmark.

Depending on your available resources, you could create a bereavement pack and include a leaflet about tribute funds, or simply mention tribute funds in your in-memory ‘thank you’ letters.

And finally, build relationships with Funeral Directors. Your tribute service collects and processes donations from funerals set up by Funeral Directors, but it can also be used to set up collections directly on your website. Building good relationships with Funeral Directors may mean they choose to recommend your charity to the families they work with. Find out more in the section on partnering with funeral directors on our charity support site. 

If you'd like to find out more about working with us, and how we can help your charity increase your in-memory income, please give us a call on 01494 722818 or email support@muchloved.com

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