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FirstClass sends iconic college’s legacy programme to the top of the class

The background


Imperial College London (Imperial) is a world-leading university for science, technology, engineering, medicine and business.


It was founded in 1907 with a mission to use science to try to understand more of the universe, and improve the lives of more people in it.


Viewing science as more than simply a subject but a mindset, a bias for inquiry and action, and the pursuit of knowledge and new ideas with grit, humility, creativity and courage, Imperial now has a number of campuses throughout London and the South East of England.


With total charitable income amounting to £60m a year, £5m of which originates from bequest giving, the legacy team decided that it was time to accelerate its legacy programme in order to boost legacy-related revenue. 


Yet, with a legacy management infrastructure historically built around manual methods using a combination of spreadsheets and CRM, the legacy team established that this was not enough to effectively maximise the value of its estates.


In order to do this whilst futureproofing its legacy management capabilities, increasing revenue and improving the efficiency of the legacy management team, Imperial chose FirstClass – making it the first educational institution ever to incorporate the platform.

“Prior to integrating FirstClass, we were doing what we could with what we had, but it was quite basic. In terms of recording data, we were limited to the essentials. In order to establish the fundamentals, such as average gift size or whether a gift was pecuniary or not, we had to work really hard and piece the data together manually in order to get what we needed. Since adopting FirstClass, this level of data – and so much more – is available at our fingertips.”


Katharine Palmer, Legacy Officer at Imperial College London

The project:


Having used FirstClass in a previous role at a prominent UK charity, Katharine’s manager, Anna Wall, joined Imperial with a clear vision that FirstClass needed to be part of the legacy team’s evolution. However, legacy marketing and the establishment of a legacy programme needed to take priority before FirstClass could be implemented.


Although one thing that every member of the organisation was clear on was that bequests represented a huge opportunity for the organisation. The figures reflected this, too.


When the legacy programme was established in 2015, legacy income stood at £1m a year. Having grown year-on-year over nine years to £5m, it was becoming clear that spreadsheets and CRM alone were not enough to manage this level of income – let alone grow it.

“Whilst legacy income was growing as the programme grew, it was clear that it was becoming increasingly difficult to manage using manual methods. After demonstrating to the wider team what was possible when using FirstClass, the decision was taken to invest in the system – and nobody has looked back. The Advancement Division, under which legacy management falls, highly values data. Now we can provide them with as much as they want including how we compare against our peers.”


Katharine Palmer, Legacy Officer at Imperial College London

With a desire for data to drive the team’s growth, which was difficult using the previous approach, the decision was taken to implement FirstClass in 2023. In February 2024, Imperial switched to FirstClass as the system went live. 


Looking ahead, Imperial is now focussed on using FirstClass to:


  • Become more efficient in communicating with the organisation’s legacy consultants, and, through the platform’s ability to streamline and standardise processes, ensure that every member of the legacy team is consistent in their approach to legacy management.


  • Make external auditing a more straightforward and less time-intensive exercise. Prior to implementing FirstClass, data was often questioned by the auditors as it wasn’t being presented in the correct format. Now, the data will be standardised and quickly accessible.


  • Consolidate and store all data, much of which originates from different sources – such as Smee & Ford – in one easy-to-use platform.

“Even within the first week of launch, our lives became much easier. From having to manually input everything on Raiser’s Edge, all correspondence now goes straight into FirstClass. But it’s not just day-to-day legacy management that’s become so much easier, the onboarding process was seamless, too. The FirstClass team helped us choose the right solution, assisted us with migrating our data and the training programmes were great. We’re really happy with the system and absolutely delighted to have become the first educational institution to adopt FirstClass.” 


Katharine Palmer, Legacy Officer at Imperial College London

A patient undergoing an eye examination

Vision for growth sees The Macular Society choose FirstClass

12 Aug, 2024
The background The Macular Society was founded in 1987 to provide support for people with Macular Disease – a degenerative condition that impacts the macula, which forms part of the retina at the back of the eye. Since the 1990s, the charity has helped thousands of people struggling with sight loss and continues to invest heavily in groundbreaking research to find a cure. Its legacy programme has also grown considerably over the last two decades. In 2009, the charity had 12 known legacy pledges. In 2024, it secured almost 600, growing legacy income from hundreds of thousands of pounds to £4m. This growth trajectory led The Macular Society to choose bequest management software FirstClass in 2023.
Two women looking at a laptop screen

FirstClass feature showcase #3: The Email Advantage

04 Jun, 2024
'Emailing!' we hear you cry. 'How is that a feature?'. Email is as prevalent as pen and paper – if not more so. Everyone uses email, but it's crucial to understand how it can be used within the FirstClass platform. Email is critical in helping charities build an online presence. Here are four reasons we believe email deserves a FirstClass feature showcase. 1. Hit send If you rely on an external platform to send and receive emails, then you’re operating outside FirstClass’s secure environment. And it’s one more platform to manage, too. With FirstClass, you can email anyone and everyone related to a specific case. The software works seamlessly with all versions of Outlook, making integration easy. Additionally, you can eliminate email-related admin, which is inevitable when using a third-party email provider. Any email addresses that aren’t on the system can easily be imported. Oh, and everything’s ringfenced, so that only those with admin rights can send emails. 2. Log it When it comes to incoming emails, all attachments, notes, and tags can quickly be logged into the system. So, users can easily track specific items if they've attributed a keyword or search term to them when they go into the legator's records. If, for example, you've previously logged a copy of the will, you can locate and recall that specific document by searching 'copy of the will'. 3. Flexible templates With FirstClass, users can easily create letter templates. While they look exactly like standard printed letters, they can be emailed to anyone in seconds, saving charities time and money in postage fees. Additionally, users can incorporate their own branding, such as logos and fonts, so that all digital communication can be on brand and consistent with other assets. 4. Scans well With FirstClass’s email import attachment wizard, users can log critical documents – such as estate sales brochures, Smee & Ford notifications and sensitive information relating to a case – almost instantly with the scan-to-email functionality. Once an item has been scanned and emailed to the user, they can use the importing attachment tool to select which attachments they would like copied from the email to the FirstClass directory. Ready to go paperless and futureproof your organisation? Contact the FirstClass team on 01257 272730 or email info@firstclass-software.com .

Celebrating the very best of our sector

15 May, 2024
By Bobby Parmar, Account Manager at FirstClass Wow, what an event! The Institute of Legacy Management’s annual conference ( ILM , for any readers who aren’t aware) was particularly special this year. Well, for us at least – but I’ll come on to that in a minute. First, I have to say that there's nothing like being in a room full of like-minded people, all of whom are passionate about legacy management (and incredibly talented in their respective legacy management fields). It’s also really quite inspiring to see so many people from some of the UK’s best-loved charities discussing the sector and sharing best practices. But for us, having provided a key legacy management tool for charities’ legacy management programmes for almost three decades, there was something else, too. A family feel Throughout the day, we continually bumped into people who, over the years we've worked together, have become like family. From legacy managers at RNLI and Cancer Research UK to team members from RSPCA, Barnados and Legacy Link, it was great to see so many people in one place. We also had the opportunity to meet with members of a steering group we've formed to help us shape the next version of our software – version 5 – in the most collaborative way possible. Three members of the group, Angela Noguera-Horne from Cancer Research UK, Val Tabor from Barnados, and Daniel Pepper from RNIB, even shared some initial feedback from users, much of which suggests that they are generally happy with the product. Pat on the back And, of course, following our recent national award win, having collected the Outstanding Partner to the Sector Award at the Smee & Ford Legacy Giving Awards 2024, many well-wishers - both customers and non-customers – were very kind about our recent success. However, the biggest pat on the back came from ILM, which is eager to develop an official qualification on FirstClass . This recognition shows that we're becoming a standard part of the legacy management infrastructure and doing something right, too. This year's ILM was exceptional, and the FirstClass team was incredibly proud to be a part of it. Looking for an award-winning bequest management partner? Get in touch with our team today.
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