Case Study: American Heart Association builds stronger legacy donor relationships with FreeWill

Donor stewardship 3 effective steps to build relationships with legacy donors and confirm gifts

The American Heart Association partnered with the vendor FreeWill to enhance its legacy giving program. The challenge was to expand their outreach to new donors and improve the stewardship process for those using a new, digital estate planning tool, with the goal of building stronger relationships and confirming more charitable bequests.

FreeWill provided a digital platform for creating wills and trusts, which was paired with a new, highly organized stewardship process. This solution involved immediate follow-up, a multi-touch communication strategy, and integration into a legacy society, resulting in over $44 million in confirmed gift commitments from more than 600 legacy donors.

American Heart Association

Pamela Leonard

National Executive Lead, Charitable Estate Planning Program Advancement