Enabling Staff to Raise the Option at Scale

The Staff Enablement System

1. 1
   Role bands
   What it is: A clear distinction between the different levels of staff involvement in bequest conversations.
   Why it matters: Not every staff member needs the same training. Reception, supporter care, regular giving, events, major gifts, executives, volunteers and board members may all hear bequest comments, but they should not all have the same authority.
   How to use it: Assign each role to one of four bands:
   Awareness band: Staff and volunteers who may hear bequest comments and need to know where to direct them.
   Enquiry band: Staff who can send approved information and record the enquiry.
   Conversation band: Trained staff who may raise the option or respond to interest within approved boundaries.
   Specialist/escalation band: The bequest lead or senior staff member who handles complex, sensitive or higher-risk situations.
   Shown in use: A weak staffing model says: “Everyone should mention bequests when they can.” A stronger staffing model says: “Supporter care is authorised to send approved information and record enquiries. Relationship managers may raise the option after completing training. Any question involving estate structure, tax, family exclusion, vulnerability or legal wording goes to the bequest lead.”
2. 2
   Language ownership
   What it is: A single approved source for the words staff are allowed to use when bequests arise.
   Why it matters: Staff confidence often collapses because they do not know what is safe to say. The answer is not to let everyone find their own style. The organisation needs approved language that can be trained, monitored and updated.
   How to use it: The bequest lead, fundraising director or approved owner maintains the language library. It includes enquiry responses, escalation lines, referral-to-solicitor lines, internal notes and channel-specific prompts. The actual donor-facing asking language is taught in Introduction to Bequests; this course governs who owns it and how it is controlled.
   Shown in use: A weak language rule says: “Use the bequest wording from the website.” A stronger language rule says: “Only the approved bequest language library may be used in donor conversations, emails, event remarks and supporter-care responses. Changes require approval from the bequest lead and must be updated in staff training materials within ten working days.”
3. 3
   Training depth
   What it is: Matching the training burden to the role, rather than giving everyone the same generic session.
   Why it matters: A single lunch-and-learn creates awareness, not competence. Staff who hold donor relationships need practice. Staff who handle enquiries need accuracy. Executives and board members need boundary discipline because their words carry authority.
   How to use it: Build three training levels:
   Level 1: Recognition and referral for all relevant staff and volunteers. They learn what a bequest enquiry or signal may sound like, where to send it, and what not to promise.
   Level 2: Enquiry handling and recording for supporter care, database and donor services staff. They learn the approved information pathway, CRM stages, consent notes and escalation rules.
   Level 3: Relationship conversation practice for fundraisers, executives or trained relationship holders. They practise permission, timing, restraint, transition back to the donor’s values, and clean handoff to the bequest lead.
   Shown in use: A weak training plan says: “Run a bequest training session for the fundraising team.” A stronger training plan says: “All supporter-facing staff complete Level 1. Supporter care and donor services complete Level 2 before information packs are promoted. Relationship managers complete Level 3 before they are authorised to raise the option in personal conversations.”
4. 4
   Capacity control
   What it is: A realistic limit on how many bequest conversations, enquiries and stewardship commitments the organisation can handle.
   Why it matters: Silence is a problem, but over-activation is also a problem. If staff raise the option with more supporters than the organisation can steward, the program creates delays, shallow follow-up and record-keeping risk.
   How to use it: Set a quarterly capacity limit based on staff time, enquiry response standards, stewardship cadence and CRM capacity. Do not launch a staff asking push unless the organisation can respond to the interest it creates.
   Shown in use: A weak target says: “Each fundraiser should raise bequests with 50 donors this quarter.” A stronger target says: “This quarter, trained relationship managers may raise the option with up to 40 approved supporters across the portfolio. The bequest lead has capacity to review all records, handle escalations within five working days, and place interested supporters into the stewardship pathway.”
5. 5
   Supervision and quality review
   What it is: A process for checking whether bequest conversations are being handled well, not merely whether they are happening.
   Why it matters: Counting asks can reward the wrong behaviour. The organisation needs to know whether staff are using permission, respecting hesitation, recording accurately, escalating risk and avoiding legal or tax advice.
   How to use it: Review a sample of bequest records each month or quarter. Look for timing, consent, language quality, escalation, next step, and whether the donor’s preference is clear. Use coaching, not blame, unless there is a serious boundary breach.
   Shown in use: A weak review asks: “How many bequest asks did we make?” A stronger review asks: “Of the bequest conversations recorded this month, how many used an approved pathway, had a clear donor-led next step, avoided advice, recorded consent, and escalated sensitivity where required?”
6. 6
   Escalation rights
   What it is: Staff permission to stop, slow down or hand over when the conversation moves beyond their role.
   Why it matters: Staff often continue because they do not want to appear unhelpful. That is dangerous in bequest work. A good system gives staff authority to pause without feeling they have failed.
   How to use it: Define non-negotiable escalation triggers: estate structure questions, tax questions, requests to check wording, excluding family, secrecy from dependants, capacity concerns, recent bereavement, complaint history, pressure from another person, or discomfort from the staff member.
   Shown in use: A weak escalation culture says: “Use your judgement.” A stronger escalation culture says: “Staff are expected to pause and escalate whenever a bequest conversation involves legal wording, tax treatment, family exclusion, vulnerability, pressure, capacity concern or staff discomfort. Pausing is recorded as good practice, not as a missed opportunity.”
7. 7
   Feedback loop
   What it is: A routine for turning staff experience into better systems.
   Why it matters: The first version of the program will expose gaps: confusing donor questions, missing CRM fields, unclear scripts, uncomfortable event moments, weak handoffs, or board members using old language. If no one owns that learning, staff will improvise again.
   How to use it: Hold a quarterly enablement review with the bequest lead, supporter care, data, relationship fundraising and marketing. Review what staff are hearing, where they hesitate, what donors ask, what materials need updating, and what training needs reinforcement.
   Shown in use: A weak feedback loop says: “Tell the bequest manager if anything comes up.” A stronger feedback loop says: “Every quarter, the bequest lead reviews enquiry notes, escalation cases, staff questions, donor objections, response times and stewardship capacity, then updates the training pack and approved language library.”