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Legacies are highly important. They bring in just over one third of our income for the charity. Marie Curie is a big charity, so it’s a massive part of the work that we do in fundraising.

The National Free Wills Network has a fantastic name in what they provide and what they do. The service that we receive from them is terrific. It’s second to none.

First of all, offering a free Will service is just a great conversation starter. The fact that so many people - 57% of adults - don’t have a Will is quite an incredible statistic, and for us to then be able to offer that free Will service to them is really valuable.

I’d really recommend the National Free Wills Network because every time there is something that I need a response to, it’s almost immediate. Certainly within the next hour or so after me contacting them, they’ll be back to me and what they’re telling me is, ‘yep, absolutely fine. We can do that for you’. Even if it’s something that is a little bit different or a little bit quirky, they’ll make it happen.

I think it’s really worth the investment. I’ve looked into it before and set up Will schemes for other charities before I worked at Marie Curie. They should really be a name at the top of everybody’s list if they are looking for that investment. The time they’ll save on admin and dealing with people or dealing with situations will be such a saving on that investment.

Legacies are vital to World Cancer Research Fund. They have been for the 40 years that we’ve been operating, investigating and researching into ways to prevent cancer. We know that cancer affects one in two of us and our job really is to prevent cancer before it starts and to support those people with living well through cancer treatment and beyond. Legacies make up around 20% of our income and we know that we want to do more work, more research and more education in the future, and legacies will be a vital way of funding that.

I have been involved with the National Free Wills Network since around 2013 when I was working for previous charities and I’ve always worked closely with them as a provider. One reason is because the level of service is exceptional. When we talk about supporter care for our donors, we’ve got to make sure that same level of support and care is filtered through to all of the providers that we’re working with. We’ve got to make sure that if we’re offering something, we’re able to provide an exemplary service, and working with the National Free Wills Network, they hold that same ethos.

The other reason why it’s important for us at World Cancer Research Fund to continue working with the National Free Wills Network is because they are providing local solicitors all over the country, which really meets the needs and demands of our supporters. They’re working with Solicitors Regulation Authority solicitor firms, and that’s really important for us, that our supporters are getting a superior product, a regulated product where they’re able to meet with a solicitor to discuss their estate, their family environment and their wishes in order to have a Will that is going to be legally valid so that their wishes can be adhered to when they’re no longer here.

I think it’s vital that charities such as World Cancer Research Fund offer a free Will service to our supporters. We understand that visiting solicitors can be a daunting thing for many of our supporters. They don’t know where to find solicitors and it has become quite a norm for supporters to contact a charity and say that they are thinking of including a gift in their Will and ask whether they have solicitors that they’re working closely with. So that network that’s provided by the National Free Wills Network of having solicitors all over the country works really, really well for us, and more importantly, it works really well for our supporters.

I would be very likely to recommend the National Free Wills Network to other charities. The Free Wills Network has always provided an exemplary service. They’re always easy to get hold of and any differences in supporters’ circumstances can be so easily dealt with. It just means that we’re really taking good care of our supporters.

When we as a sector talk so much about supporter stewardship and really harnessing legacy conversations and drip feeding legacy messages in, at the end of all of that marketing and influencing, the thing that has got to happen is that the supporter has got to write a Will for those wishes to come to fruition. So working with a partner like the National Free Wills Network that has got that network of solicitors all over the country and provides that level of service to us as legacy professionals, but also to the supporters, means that we’re really able to carry out that legacy marketing and influencing and get people to think about who they want to leave their estate to. Having that right product at the end is absolutely vital, so I would encourage everybody to consider partnering with the National Free Wills Network.

With the Fisherman’s Mission, legacies are hugely important. They make up around 1/3 of our voluntary income, which means about 1/3 of the support we give to fishermen and their families is possible thanks to legacy income. I recognised that as a national organisation, we received legacies from right around the UK, but we had no mechanism in place to help people make their Wills and potentially leave a gift to the Fisherman’s Mission. That’s why I introduced the National Free Wills Network, and I like the fact that it works with solicitors on a face-to-face basis.

For us, it allows us to give people the opportunity to write their Will and put their affairs in order. Many of the people we support are on low incomes, and a lot may be elderly, so this is a great way for them to be able to put their affairs in order with solicitors in their local area.

I would be very likely to recommend the National Free Wills Network to other charities, and indeed I have done so beforehand. One comment I would make, and this is perhaps something I hadn’t originally envisaged, is that it helps with internal engagement because we can talk to staff about the Network and the importance of Will writing so they can promote it to their clients. It has really served to support internal engagement and open up those discussions with colleagues around the country.