£4 billion could potentially be generated for the charity sector if solicitors simply asked those writing a will to leave a donation

GordonDean
June 16, 2013

It has been revealed that £4 billion could potentially be generated for the charity sector if solicitors simply asked those writing a will to leave a donation to a charity.

The Cabinet Office Behavioural Insights Team have discovered that when solicitors mentioned the idea of leaving money to charity during the will writing process, the percentage of people who donated without being prompted was a mere 5%. This increased to 10% once will writers were prompted to donate. The percentage of people that donated rose again to 15% when they were asked if there were any charities that they felt particularly passionate about. As a result of the conducted trial, an additional £1 million was given to charities. This legacy highlights the fact that many people like the idea of leaving a financial gift or donation to charity; however, many individuals do not remember to do so.

However, one Norwich solicitors has been working hard to promote the idea of people leaving a donation to charity in their wills by the means of working with the ‘Free Wills Month Campaign.’ It was introduced in England and Wales in order to bring together charity organisations with the intention of providing members of the public aged 55 and over the opportunity to have their wills written for free, whilst prompting customers to pledge for donations. Gordon Dean solicitors in Norwich raised a momentous £172,650 as a result of writing up wills for free at their firm.

Mr Phillip Bazley from Gordon Dean solicitors managed to write up 70 wills whilst taking part in the scheme in October and November 2012. Consequently, a letter of thanks was sent in April, to the firm from the campaign organisers, in order to congratulate their staff on their commendable efforts. Gordon Dean Solicitors is now responsible for more than 10% of the overall amount of money donated, by the ’Free Wills Month Campaign,’ to charities nationwide.

Across the whole campaign, £1.16 million was raised which will benefit a huge range of charities, including Great Ormond Street Hospital, the British Lung Foundation, WWF and the Children’s Society.

The next ‘Free Wills Month Campaign’ will commence on the 1^st October 2013.