Susan Hughes the V&A’s Legacy Manager wins prestigious Legacy10 Award

Last month Susan Hughes, the V&A’s Legacy Manager won Legacy10’s Award for Excellence. Susan joined the Museum in 2013, and has done fantastic work developing the Museum’s legacy programme. The Legacy10 Award for Excellence was set up to recognise those who have contributed to legacy giving in the UK through innovation and delivery, and was open to all legacy fundraisers working for a registered UK charity.

Susan won the national award, and Rosalyn Leclercq, Legacy Officer at the Essex Wildlife Trust, won the regional award. Both winners received a prize of £2,500, with their respective charities receiving a matched sum. The V&A put the money received towards our recent Save the Wolsey Angels campaign.

Rt. Hon Sajid Javid MP presented Susan with the award and commented

“Many congratulations to Susan and Rosalyn for their successful work encouraging this important source of funding for the arts.  Legacy giving is a great way for people to give something back to the arts companies and institutions that have provided them with so much pleasure and delight during their lives and Government changes to the tax regime around it are making it simpler and more cost effective for the giver.”

Many people simply do not realise that institutions such as the V&A are a charity and do not receive all their funding from the Government.  This means looking for alternative ways of finding support. Gifts in Wills is an obvious starting-point for the Arts and Cultural sectors. Traditionally the Arts are at the bottom of the charitable causes for legacy-giving, but Susan just sees this as an opportunity for the Arts to improve and to grow legacy income.  Last year Susan began working with Remember A Charity, a consortium set up to support charities in raising awareness about legacy giving. Often the stories behind why an individual chooses to leave us a gift in their will can be truly inspiring and one such is that of Fred Rowley which Susan blogged about and which received coverage in the Daily Telegraph.

Susan has also set up a series of legacy events, where legacy pledgers and those thinking about leaving a gift can meet, and find out more about how to leave a gift in their will to the V&A. The events usually tie in with a focus on objects or bequests that have been left to the V&A and last year included a behind-the-scenes tour of the Theatre and Performance archives at Blythe House, a collection which originated from a bequest left to the Museum by Gabrielle Enthoven of her vast theatrical archive. Later this month Susan is running a legacy event which will focus on the works of William Morris which were bequeathed to the V&A by his daughter Mary ‘May’ Morris.  The event is set to take place on the afternoon of Wednesday 11 February 2015, and there are still places available.

Susan’s hard work and dedication to raising awareness about legacy giving in the arts is tireless and utterly commendable, and her Legacy10 Award for Excellence is very well deserved.

Please contact Susan at s.hughes@vam.ac.uk or on +44 (0)20 7942 2716 to find out more about the upcoming William Morris legacy event, any future legacy events, or how you can leave a gift in your will to the V&A.