Meet the team at Legacy Futures — Sharon Wheeler

Welcome to the latest episode of 'Meet the Team', where we hear from Sharon Wheeler , Client Relationship Manager at Legacy Link .

Please describe your role at Legacy Futures.

I work with all of our inspirational charities and help get them set up with our team of awesome Legacy Link consultants. We work with over 120 charities either on long term or interim outsourced legacy administration, help desk or legacy policy and process consultancy. We have 40 legacy consultants who all know their stuff and are passionate about the difference they make to the charity sector. As you can imagine – I am kept pretty busy and no two days are the same.

What has been a career highlight to date?

So far, I have most enjoyed speaking to lots of different charities and hearing about the impact that legacy gifts have made to their cause area. I like it when we receive feedback from very happy clients who can see immediately the impact that outsourcing their legacy administration has had.

I also enjoy hearing some of the stories behind the legacy gifts and am constantly blown away by the generosity of supporters.

What makes you most excited about the future of legacies?

I’m really excited about the growth in legacy giving and the importance that it is being given across charities of all sizes. Now is a really good time for charities to invest in legacies, and the people, technology and processes who track, monitor and bring them to fruition.

At Legacy Link, we have continued to see a rise in demand for our outsourced legacy administration service. This is no surprise as it follows the trends predicted by Legacy Foresight that there will continue to be a rise in legacy giving in the future. Legacy giving has been bumped up the priority list in a lot of charities and is on the radar of trustees and management teams, as it should be.

We’ve certainly also seen an increase in the number of smaller charities that approach Legacy Link for the expertise of an experienced legacy officer but without the hassle of recruitment or employee costs. Smaller charities also seem to like our flexibility and adaptability – we can react to fluctuations in their legacy caseloads and can handle any size of caseload efficiently.

Tell us about a legacy story that’s personally important to you.

Family legacies don’t always have to have a monetary value. My Grandfather left us a legacy in the form of a card game. We are from a huge Irish family and he was a man of few words. He taught us the importance of shuffling, dealing and playing fairly, but most importantly making the time to play together. We have taught this game to our children, and it has been so important to connect us to our family history and heritage.

Tell us an unusual fact about yourself.

I’m left-handed – not unusual in itself but so are 75% of my immediate family. We like to think that makes us more creative but in reality it just means using scissors is that much harder!