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

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The Generation Legacy Fundraising Can't Afford to Ignore

By Fiona Paton • July 16, 2026
Gen X is writing wills earlier, including charitable gifts at a higher rate, and living on their phones. So why is legacy outreach still missing them?. Free Wills Month happens twice a year, in March and in October, giving supporters aged 55 and over the chance to write or update a simple will at no cost. It is one of the most practical and effective tools available for building a legacy pipeline. Most charities already use it. The question is whether the channels they are using to promote it are potentially reaching the right people The Gen X Opportunity Generation X, broadly those born between 1965 and 1980, are at precisely the right life stage to be thinking about wills and legacy giving. They are in their mid-40s to early 60s. Many are at peak earning power, thinking seriously about estate planning, and are open to including a charitable gift. The data backs this up. Research from Remember a Charity found that younger will-makers aged 40 to 59 are more likely to include a charitable gift than older age groups: 35% have done so, compared with 32% of those aged 60 to 69 and 30% of those aged 70 and over. Gen Xers are also writing wills earlier than previous generations, with 28% saying they would make a will online or have already done so, compared with just 10% of Baby Boomers. If a charity is not showing up in the digital moments where Gen X is making these decisions, it is simply not showing up at all. The Channel Gap Legacy income accounts for an estimated 37% of all voluntary income to UK charities. You might expect it to command a proportionate share of fundraising attention. The reality is quite different. Research from the Charities Aid Foundation suggests charities spend around 15% of their fundraising budgets on legacy promotion, less than half what the income share would justify. Most legacy fundraising communications are still built around channels designed for older donors: email, print mailings, and inserts in regular giving packs. These have their place, but they are not where Gen X is paying attention. This is a generation that lives on their phones, communicates through WhatsApp, and expects organisations they trust to show up in the same places they already are. Most charities already have the mobile messaging infrastructure in place through their regular giving programmes. Many are already working with Cymba, our sister company, on RCS, WhatsApp, and text-to-donate campaigns for donor acquisition, regular giving, and retention. What has not yet happened, in most cases, is applying those same channels to legacy and Free Wills Month outreach. What Good Outreach Looks Like Reaching Gen X for Free Wills Month does not require a new communications strategy. It requires applying what already works in other parts of fundraising to the legacy conversation. A WhatsApp message or RCS campaign sent to supporters in the run-up to October can carry your charity's branding, a short explanation of Free Wills Month, and a single link or button that takes the supporter directly to your booking page. One tap and they are there. A QR code on an email footer, social post, or any printed material can do the same job. Rich mobile messaging can drive supporters straight to a charity's legacy giving page during Free Wills Month, with a branded message that feels personal rather than broadcast. Short video content is also worth the investment. A 30-second clip from a legacy officer or trustee, authentic, unscripted, and filmed on a phone, will land far better with this audience than polished copy they scroll past. Video is now the dominant format across Instagram, WhatsApp, and every major social platform. Charities not using it for legacy messaging are leaving significant reach on the table. Build the Strategy Now October Free Wills Month is close enough to plan for, and Remember a Charity's national awareness week runs in September, this year from 7 to 13 September, giving charities a natural moment to prime supporters before the booking window opens. The charities that make the most of October will be the ones that have built the communications plan now, not in mid-September. That means identifying which supporter segments are most likely to be in the Gen X age bracket, ensuring contact data is clean, and mobile numbers are current. In addition, mapping out a short sequence of touchpoints across RCS, WhatsApp, social, and email that works together rather than in isolation. Clean data is the foundation of all of it. A message sent to an outdated number, or addressed with a wrong name, does the opposite of what you intend. The Bigger Picture Free Wills Month is a tactical opportunity. But the question it raises is a strategic one: are your legacy communications potentially reaching the people most likely to act on them? Meeting Gen X where they are is not complicated. It starts with the channels and tools most charities already have, applied with more intention to the legacy conversation. Sources: Remember a Charity Will-Making Survey 2025

The £4.4 Billion Opportunity

By Fiona Paton • July 6, 2026
UK legacy giving is at near-record levels. What the latest figures tell us, and what they mean for the sector. UK legacy giving brought in an estimated £4.4 billion in 2025, the second-highest year on record, according to the Legacy Giving Report 2026 from Legacy Futures and Smee & Ford. Only 2024's exceptional peak of £4.6 billion has exceeded it. By any measure, gifts in wills have become one of the most significant and reliable sources of voluntary income in the charity sector. Yet despite that scale, the opportunity remains largely untapped. Understanding why starts with looking at what the numbers actually say. A Sector at Scale The figures behind that £4.4 billion total tell a compelling story. Around 44,000 estates included a charitable gift in 2025, generating an estimated 104,000 individual bequests. The average gift value stood at £44,000, a sum that can be genuinely transformational for smaller organisations receiving even a handful of legacies each year. Perhaps the most striking figure of all is this: a record 17.4% of all estates at probate now include a charitable donation. That's nearly one in five. Legacy giving has moved well beyond a niche form of philanthropy. It is mainstream, growing, and showing no signs of slowing down. The Underinvestment Problem With legacy income accounting for 37% of all voluntary income to UK charities, you might expect it to command a proportionate share of fundraising attention. The reality is quite different. Research from the Charities Aid Foundation suggests charities spend around 15% of their fundraising budgets on legacy promotion, less than half what the income share would justify. That gap between income received and investment made is striking. It suggests that for many organisations, legacy giving is still treated as something that happens to them rather than something they actively cultivate. The gifts arrive. But the strategy, the stewardship, and the administrative infrastructure to support them are not always keeping pace. Concentration at the Top Legacy income is also unevenly distributed. For the top 1,000 legacy-receiving charities, gifts in wills account for around 30% of total fundraised income, a significant dependency. In the health sector alone, just eight major charities account for roughly half of all legacy income received. That concentration matters for two reasons. First, it reflects how much further the market could grow if more organisations, including arts bodies, heritage organisations, universities, hospices, and community charities, invested seriously in legacy fundraising and administration. Second, it highlights the competitive advantage available to those who do. The pipeline is there. The question is whether organisations have the capacity and the tools to manage it well. What Comes Next The outlook is positive. Annual legacy income is projected to approach £5 billion by 2030, driven in part by the ongoing transfer of wealth between generations. As legacy giving becomes an increasingly central part of the UK's philanthropic landscape, the organisations best placed to benefit will be those that treat it with the strategic seriousness it deserves. That means investing in legacy fundraising, yes. But it also means having the administrative foundations to handle every gift with the care and precision it warrants. The £4.4 billion figure is not just a headline. It is a signal. Sources: Legacy Giving Report 2026, Legacy Futures and Smee & Ford; Charities Aid Foundation UK Giving Report.

Getting the Help You Need, Fast

By Fiona Paton • June 29, 2026
How our support portal keeps your issues moving, and nothing slips through the gaps. We introduced our support portal last year, and it’s made a genuine difference to how quickly and consistently we’re able to help. But we also know how organisations work: people move on, new team members join, and not every process gets handed over as smoothly as we’d all like. So, it felt like a good moment to set out how it works and make sure everyone on your team knows where to go. When something isn’t working the way it should, you want it sorted quickly. So do we. That’s why we’ve put a system in place that makes sure every support request gets the right attention from the right person, with nothing getting lost along the way. The Quickest Route to a Resolution The best way to raise a support issue is through our portal: www.firstclass-software.com/contact When you log a request here, a ticket is automatically created in our support system. You’ll receive a confirmation email with your ticket number straight away, and your issue goes into a shared team view that we review together every day. That daily review matters. It means the whole team has visibility of what’s open, what’s progressing, and, importantly, who is best placed to help. If one of us is tied up or away, your ticket doesn’t sit in a single inbox waiting. It’s picked up. Once Your Ticket Is Open Everything you need to do from there can be handled by email. If you want to add more detail, share a screenshot, or simply check where things stand, just reply to your confirmation email. Your response is automatically recorded against your ticket, so nothing gets separated from its context. Why We’re Asking You to Use the Portal We know it’s natural to fire off an email directly to someone you know on the team. We genuinely appreciate that; it speaks to the relationships we’ve built with you. But direct emails do carry a real risk: if that person is out, in a meeting, or simply gets busy, your message can sit without anyone else knowing it’s there. The portal changes that. The moment you log a ticket; the whole support team knows about it. It can be assigned, prioritised, and picked up by whoever can move fastest, and it’s there in front of us at every daily team meeting. It’s a small change in habit that makes a meaningful difference to how quickly and reliably we can help you. In Summary – Log support issues at www.firstclass-software.com/contact – You’ll receive a confirmation email with your ticket number – Reply to that email to add information or follow up; it all stays connected – Your ticket is visible to the whole team and reviewed daily – The right person picks it up, wherever they are If you’re ever unsure, or would rather talk something through, you’re always welcome to call us on 01257 272730. Articles like this, along with sector news, product updates and practical tips, are shared in our monthly newsletter. It’s something we’re often asked about: how do I sign up, or why am I not receiving it? So, we’ve created a dedicated page to make that easy. Visit www.firstclass-software.com/stay-connected to join, and please do pass the link on to any new members of your team.