'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 .
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.
FirstClass - The gold standard in bequest management and an outstanding partner to the legacy sector
Invitation to attend an Introduction to FirstClass webinar on June 6, 11:30. Find out why we are the gold standard in bequest management and an outstanding partner to the legacy sector. The FirstClass team is thrilled to win 'Outstanding Partner to the Legacy Sector' at the Smee & Ford Legacy Giving Awards 2024. Not only does it show recognition for outstanding achievement and skill in the legacy sector, but it's also a testament to the exceptional support and experience the team provides to our customers. Bobby Parmar , a pivotal figure within the team, proudly represented FirstClass at the awards. Bobby has been indispensable in advancing FirstClass, demonstrating an infectious work ethic, exceptional responsiveness, and steadfast commitment to supporting charities.
FirstClass, the UK's leading legacy management software provider, has won the Outstanding Partner to the Sector Award at the Smee & Ford Legacy Giving Awards 2024. Out of a pool of 108 finalists, FirstClass emerged as one of the 20 national award winners and was presented with the accolade at a ceremony hosted by comedian Lucy Porter, which welcomed 300 guests and took place at the Hilton Bankside on 18 April. The judging panel, which included 42 prominent figures from the legacy community, assessed FirstClass on its ambition, excellence and outcome and decided that the legacy management expert, who has been serving the legacy sector for almost three decades, was a worthy winner. FirstClass's bequest management platform is an industry 'gold standard' for organisations and teams managing bequests. The platform is used not only by charities but also by high-profile benchmarking organisations and industry authorities such as Legacy Foresight and Legacy Link. As of 2024, FirstClass has 500 users, and together, these users manage a combined bequest revenue of £1.4bn. On receiving the prize, Rich Mullens, Product Director for FirstClass, said:
Many things have changed because of Covid. Strangely enough, GDPR is one of them. Prior to the pandemic, it was ALL about GDPR. In fact, organisations were falling over themselves to be compliant. And then priorities shifted in the wake of a pandemic. But GDPR is back on charities’ radars. Fortunately, FirstClass prioritised GDPR before 2020, so now that it’s back on the priority list, we’ve got everything charities need to be compliant when it comes to bequest management. Here are five FirstClass features that can help charities support data protection and comply with GDPR. 1. Anonymise and pseudonymise We’ve developed an anonymisation and pseudonymisation function, which protects everyone’s records within the FirstClass platform. With FirstClass anonymise, for example, all individual identifiers are removed, so there is no way of establishing someone’s identity. Or, if that feels too extreme for some, FirstClass pseudonymise enables users to remove identifiers from the record but retain the ability to reallocate them later. Both aspects can be managed on an individual or bulk basis. 2. Jog your memory With FirstClass’s Review Reminders function, users can set reminders against legacies stored within their system so that they receive data management prompts at pre-programmed times or regular intervals. For example, a charity may want to set reminders that prompt them to anonymise or pseudonymise data every six weeks. 3. Take the faff out of fetching Everyone knows that effective and secure data storage is critical. But what about retrieving data? In our view, having the facility to retrieve the data you need—whenever you need it —is as important as being able to safely store it. With that in mind, we’ve made collating data seamless. Now, if you need to respond to a subject access request or need to address a disclosure requirement, the FirstClass multiple search criteria function lets you fetch data just as easily as you stored it. 4. Encryption enabled FirstClass facilitates transparent data encryption, which means encryption can be activated at even an individual file level. It’s important to note that this can only be executed if your charity’s server supports this function. If it does, ALL database and backup files can be protected via encryption. 5. The ‘D’ word No, we’re not talking about data – but the word ‘delete’. People often feel a little uneasy when the words ‘data’ and ‘delete’ are uttered in the same sentence. But sometimes, deletion is the best way forward if the data is no longer required. FirstClass enables users to delete people and contacts from the system permanently – but only those with valid access and security rights can do this. When it comes to bequest management platforms, GDPR is becoming increasingly important. To find out exactly how it affects you and how FirstClass can help you manage it, contact the team on 01257 272730 or email info@clear-software.co.uk .
Legacy Foresight is the UK’s most prominent legacy market analyst that specialises in benchmarking, research and analysis to generate insights and data for the UK’s legacy market. Its annual benchmarking consortium programme, Legacy Monitor, has been designed to monitor, analyse and forecast trends in legacy giving. To do this, it draws on data from 81 charities, which accounts for almost half of the UK legacy market by legacy income. Of the 81 charities that form the consortium, 69 use FirstClass, which makes data retrieval a robust and efficient process for 75 per cent of its members. But how is this achieved? How do the remaining 25 per cent contribute to the report? And what exactly goes into providing critical data that’s used to underpin a highly regarded industrywide report? Here, Sean Nelson, Project Manager and Priti Parmar, Client Support & System Testing Consultant at FirstClass , explain. Sean: There are number of aspects to the Legacy Monitor programme. However, the two main components are the quarterly benchmarking and the annual health check. For both strands, our job is to act as the go-between by taking charities’ data, sense-checking it and supplying it directly to Legacy Foresight. Priti: At the start of the year, Legacy Foresight provide us with a list of dates and deadlines that we and the charities must adhere to. These form the backbone of the entire programme for the whole year. For example, it means that we know when to issue the first emails to charities, asking them for specific data, when to chase them and when to issue the second round of emails. Working with so many charities, there has to be this structure in place to make data collection at this level manageable. “The majority of the data supplied to Legacy Monitor comes direct from charities’ FirstClass legacy software. This data can be extracted and transferred easily and efficiently, and is almost always complete and robust. For charities that don’t use FirstClass, the process can be more time consuming and more data quality checks are required” Kathryn Horsley, Director of Insight at Legacy Foresight Sean: We begin by grouping the charities into two groups: FirstClass users and non-FirstClass users. For the non-FirstClass users, the emails are bespoke as we attach the respective charities spreadsheet containing previously supplied data covering the last six years. The charity add data for the latest quarter & update the historical data if required. FirstClass users are provided with a blank spreadsheet that is populated with data copied directly from reports from FirstClass. We ask for pecuniary, residual and other income/bequests spanning these timeframes. We have also recently starting requesting additional data for high value legacies. Priti: Generally speaking, once the charities have completed and returned the spreadsheets, it’s our job to review the data, check the figures and spot any anomalies. For example, if the figures are unusually low or high compared with previous years, we’ll flag it with the charity, which generally has a reason for this. We’ll then log the reasons and include any other comments when passing that charity’s data on to Legacy Foresight. Sean: With FirstClass, there is no need for charities to copy and paste their data into the spreadsheet. The charity simply runs the necessary reports, which takes five minutes compared with the vast amount of time non-FirstClass users will need to manually locate and input the same data. If a charity fails to supply their data, we have to ask Legacy Foresight to estimate the figures on their behalf. However, we’ll always give them advance warning of our intentions – and this is usually prompts them to supply a completed spreadsheet. Priti: Once we have all the data – the FirstClass reports and the spreadsheets – we consolidate it and place it in the Cloud in such a way that it can be manipulated by Legacy Foresight, so that if they want to create tables and graphs, for instance, they can. The Legacy Monitor team then go through it all with a fine toothcomb and use the data and insights to produce the report that our industry knows and trusts. “If you really want to understand the dynamics and performance of your legacy income, then you need access to as much robust data as you can possibly acquire. FirstClass is not only a tool that allows its users to do just that, but combined with the Legacy Monitor programme, it also has the capacity to empower charities to make more informed, strategic decisions for their legacy programme.” Kathryn Horsley, Director of Insight at Legacy Foresight Thinking about maximising your organisation’s legacy gifting programme? Interested in speaking with the UK’s legacy management software specialists? Contact the FirstClass team on +44(0)1257 272730 or email info@firstclass-software.com
