Stewardship: The Who, What and How

The key principles of caring for your bereaved supporters

Our top tips for stewarding and caring for your bereaved supporters.

1. The Who: Who are you looking after?

• Your tribute fund holders
• Tribute fund holders created by Funeral Directors - shown in the ‘Tributes fundraising for you’ section in your Partner Area
• Event fundraisers
• Donors

Tributes fundraising for you

"We are always humbled by people’s generosity when they must be going through such a difficult time, thank you for helping to connect us" - Live Music Now, a charity that received donations from a tribute set up by a Funeral Director.

• Do actively engage with ‘Tributes fundraising for you’. Create alerts so you know when a new one has been set up
• Treat these tributes in the same way as you would a tribute set up through your charity and contact the tribute fund owner if at all possible
• On the point of tribute set up, if the fund holder’s details are available you could send a condolence email or card and thank them for thinking of the charity, and also light a candle on the tribute page
• If there is no email address, then you could simply light a virtual candle on the tribute. The tribute owner is likely to see this, which may help connect them to you. Reach out to the funeral director to introduce your charity; you could ask them to offer the ongoing tribute to the family as tribute owners.

2. The What: What do you want to achieve?

• Engagement - building long term relationships with supporters
• Thanking - ensure supporters feel valued and connected with the charity
• Notification - make sure you know about all new funds and activities
• Data - record data and keep track of communications with supporters for improved donor retention and relationships.

3. The How: What stewardship tools could you use?

• Personal email to a new fund holder so they feel valued
• Introductory phone call
• A personalised hand-written card or letter
• Post a gift (such as seeds) to tribute fund holders
• Online video calls e.g. a Zoom call; have a personal call or a group call/event like a virtual coffee morning
• Options through the MuchLoved platform: candles, thoughts, virtual gifts can all be added by you to a tribute
• Social media: use channels such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram to promote your fund and engage with supporters, especially if they have taken on fundraising events for their fund. Read more about our suggested posts and social media tips.
• Tribute fund newsletter
• Video thank you from a key person in your charity (clinician, researcher, fundraiser, beneficiary etc).
• Mark the creation of a tribute fund with a precious memorial item to recognise the person who has died.
• Bereavement Support - include GriefChat on your website as bereavement care for your supporters. Read our guides on bereavement support here.