One in five charities say that a lack of knowledge about legacy fundraising is preventing them from achieving the most from the income stream, according to a new survey.

A lack of knowledge came in as the most common reason charities identified as a barrier to legacy fundraising in a survey into the method by consultants Wootton George. A further 16 per cent of the 52 charities surveyed said that a lack of internal capacity held back their legacy fundraising, while a short-term fundraising outlook came in as the third most common hurdle.

Simon George, from Wootton George, said that the survey authors had expected the barriers to line up in a different order.

“We had expected to see more prominence given to a lack of strategic focus and short term thinking, especially in a recession,” he said.

Legacy income has taken a battering as a result of the economic downturn, with the amount raised by gifts in wills falling consistently since a high in 2008.

For many charities, however, it is money they get without any effort. At a third of the organisations responding to the survey, legacies continued to trickle in despite a total lack of legacy marketing. Only 43 per cent actively sought legacies from their supporters.

Survey respondents suggested that boosting staff capacity, adopting a more strategic approach to legacy fundraising and better education about the method could help to improve the amount their charities received in bequests.