Scottish charities have saw the amount they bring in from legacy giving grow by a quarter, higher than the UK average
More Scots are leaving donations to charity in their wills.
New research into legacy giving, which spans the last decade, has revealed Scottish and Welsh charities are reporting higher levels of growth than organisations in other parts of the UK.
Remember a Charity was formed in the year 2000 as a consortium of charities working to encourage more people to leave a legacy donation in their will. A representative voice for the sector with 200 charity members, the campaign works with government, the legal profession and employers to help develop the most positive legacy environment, working to the ultimate goal of making legacy giving a social norm.
To mark the start of the consortium’s new three-year plan, the UK Legacy Fundraising Market 2019 report has been launched. The study unveils new trends and market insights based on the analysis of legacy income to over 1,100 UK fundraising charities, with annual legacy income of £2.23 billion.
When it comes to growth in legacy income, Welsh and Scottish charities are outperforming charities in England and those with a UK-wide remit. Although the Welsh and Scottish legacy markets constitute a small proportion of the UK’s legacy income (amounting to a collective total of 4%), the report reveals that charities saw real terms legacy income growth from 2007-2017 of 35% in Wales and 23% in Scotland, against a UK average growth rate of 10%.
The research conveys that the market is broadening, with a 24% rise in the number of top 5,000 fundraising charities reporting legacy income over the decade and changing public preferences in terms of the types of organisations people are naming in their Wills.
Health charities retain the largest income share from legacies (42% in 2017), but overseas aid, environmental and services charities are increasing their space in the market. At the same time, religious charities and social care are losing ground.
The research was conducted by Dr Catherine Walker, director of The Researchery, and Cathy Pharoah, visiting professor of charity funding, Cass Business School.
Dr Walker said: “This new research on long-term trends in UK fundraising charities' legacy income demonstrates the resilience of this form of planned giving as a way to support the causes the public cares about. Legacies made a strong recovery from the impact of recession as market values picked up again, with donors responding to new opportunities and appeals to make charitable bequests.”
Professor Pharoah added: “Across all parts of the UK, legacies continue to be the largest single source of fundraising income, from 31% of giving to UK-wide national charities to a quarter of giving amongst Scottish and Welsh charities.”
The consortium’s strategic priorities for 2019-2021 set out how Remember a Charity aims to grow the donor market and normalise legacy giving. In addition to ongoing consumer awareness initiatives, government lobbying and ensuring legal advisors encourage clients to consider leaving a gift to charity when writing their will, the strategy sets out a new focus for identifying trigger points for the public to consider legacy giving during retirement- and pension planning.
Rob Cope, director of Remember a Charity, said: “The donor market is clearly growing with a long-term shift in the proportion of estates that include a charitable gift. But with rapid expansion in the legacy fundraising marketplace and more charities at the table, the question is whether charities will start to feel the squeeze. Our research shows that legacy income is being stretched across a broader marketplace and that some markets are more likely to feel the pinch than others. With the future impact of Brexit as yet unknown and economic instability predicted for some time yet, this reinforces the need for the sector to work collaboratively to grow the donor market, providing a more stable basis for this vital income stream for the years ahead.”
