Gifts in wills are a vital and buoyant source of charity income. These data dashboards for the financial year ending 2022/23 describe the size and shape of gifts in wills in the UK, and how legacy incomes have grown over the past 30 years.
Over the past 30 years legacy incomes have quadrupled in value, from £0.9bn in 1993 to £4.0bn in 2022/23. Even once inflation has been taken into account, real incomes have doubled – which means British charities can launch twice as many lifeboats, train twice as many guide dogs or support twice as many cancer patients as before.
Legacy Foresight, Market Model 2023
↗ An increase of 7.4% on 2021/22.
Total UK legacy income in 2022/23 coming from around 140,000 bequests (growth of just 0.6%, limited by the ongoing probate backlog).
Unlike other forms of giving, there can be a long time lag between someone writing a gift into their will and the charity receiving the money. For residuary gifts, it takes an average of 6.7 years from last will to death and another 2.5 years to receive all the income from the estate.
There is a wide range within this average, and some charities with an older supporter base see a shorter average time from last will to gift.
Legacy Foresight, Monitor Healtcheck data 2023
Over the past decade, the number of people who say they have written a charitable will has increased by 43% – with now 1 in 5 people saying they have done so.
Remember a Charity 2024 The consumer benchmark study explores the public’s attitudes to legacy giving, with regular surveys carried out since 2009. The latest survey was carried out by OKO in December 2023; an online survey of 2,000+ charity supporters across the UK, aged 40+. The research has been carried out by OKO since 2021, and nfpSynergy before that.
The proportion of charity supporters in the UK who say they have written a will that includes a gift to charity.
Legacy income is forecast to remain stable at around £4bn per year for the next few years before returning to growth.
Legacy Foresight, Market Model 2023
The long-range forecast for legacy income is positive, expected to reach £10bn a year by 2050. A rising death rate, combined with wealthier, more charitably-minded donors will drive this growth.