The Forever Stone

Agency: North Devon Hospice

Every year, North Devon Hospice faces the challenge of raising some £4m from a dispersed and mostly rural population. As much as a quarter of that comes from legacy donations. But how do you get people to leave money to a charity in their will?

The Forever Stone is a world first fundraising innovation, combining millennia of local history with cutting edge technology to secure the future for one vital community service.

During the Covid pandemic, the permanence of the monument, easy maintenance of the tech and remote accessibility has enabled the campaign to raise millions throughout a turbulent fundraising climate, with zero financial investment.

Background:

When legacy receipts fell dramatically, North Devon Hospice faced a major shortfall in funding. Bray Leino has worked with the hospice for 30 years; together, we established three objectives:

- Inspire and facilitate difficult legacy conversations.

- Enable the hospice to recognise legacy donors as their most important, precious givers.

- Ensure the campaign continues without regular investment.

We sourced a two ton, 400-million-year-old piece of local stone and crafted it into a powerful monument to legators. Then we developed a state-of-the-art augmented reality experience enabling visitors to interact with the stone, revealing legators’ life stories. Hospice staff wear Forever Stone pin badges, taking the important message into every room, home and ward they attend.

The Forever Stone gives North Devon Hospice some control over a previously unpredictable but crucial element of their fundraising, with annual donations increasing 566% since before the campaign launched - from £300k to £2million.