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Committed givers disloyal to cause when pledging legacies

Fundraising | Celina Ribeiro | 4 Sep 2008

Regular donors to arts, environmental and overseas charities are more likely than others to include a legacy in their will, but that does not mean the charities they have supported throughout their life will necessarily benefit from them after their death.

These are findings of legacy specialist Richard Radcliff (pictured) at Smee & Ford, who conducted focus groups with 1,716 donors from 38 charities across ten cause types. He found that committed donors to overseas charities were the most likely to have a legacy in their will, with 43 per cent confirming this was their intention.

Arts donors were next in line, with 38 per cent of those who had written a will including a legacy gift. They were closely followed by donors to environmental charities; 37 per cent of those with wills had pledged to leave a legacy.

However, Radcliffe found that rather than remain loyal to the organisations they have supported throughout their lives, arts donors intend to leave money to different causes. Environmental groups have also not seen legacy income levels match what the figures would suggest they are due.
“It was clear in the arts groups that people just didn’t think of them as charities and therefore a legacy was not on the horizon. This was not the case with the environment, but maybe these causes are too young and their original supporters haven’t yet died,” said Radcliffe.

In contrast, only 30 per cent of regular givers to medical research charities had included a legacy in their will. This is despite the fact that legacies account for a significant proportion of voluntary income for these charities.

“The fact only 30 per cent of medical research supporters have legacies in their wills, versus 43 per cent of supporters of overseas charities, is fascinating – especially given this [latter] causal area usually only benefits from legacies of less than 20 per cent,” he said. 

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Who's Who: Celina Ribeiro