Gifts in Wills to New Zealand charities are growing. The real question is by how much.
The size of the opportunity
New Zealand charities receive about $320 million a year from Gifts in Wills, which is roughly 1.3% of the $27 billion that passed through New Zealand estates in 2024. That compares with 3.7% in the UK and 4.4% in the US, so we are at about a quarter of where they already are.
The gap matters because estates are about to get much larger. As the Great Wealth Transfer unfolds, the value of estates will grow, and Gifts in Wills will grow with it. These figures come from the Bequest Report, Feb 2025, and the projections below are built on them.
Three futures for Gifts in Wills
It is the share of estates going to charity, not the size of estates alone, that decides whether Gifts in Wills is worth $1 billion or $4 billion a year within 20 years.
The generosity is already here
Kiwis are generous. This was never about that. The gap is in how often people are asked, and in how ready charities are to respond. BERL found that 52% of donors surveyed are interested in leaving a gift in their will to charity, and yet only around 6% of wills actually include one, compared with 14% of UK wills.
Two findings explain much of that gap.
- Only 20.2% of people who had professional advice were asked about charitable giving at all.
- Only 20% of Gifts in Wills come from people who told the charity they were leaving one. The other 80% come from people the charity did not know were planning one.
For a charity, the second point is the commercial reality. Most of the pipeline is invisible, so charities that wait for supporters to announce themselves will miss most of the gifts that are coming.
What the asking actually does
This has been properly tested. In a 2013 UK Cabinet Office trial run through a large legal services provider, will writing clients who were asked nothing left a charitable gift 4.9% of the time. Asked one plain question, 10.8%. Asked the same question with a line about what other clients commonly do, 15.4%, and the average gift doubled.
The practical reading is that an adviser can start the conversation, but a prompt on its own does not build a gift. The relationship with the charity is what turns intent into a gift.
Capability, not generosity
The charities this wealth finds will be the ones that get ready. That means three things.
- They know who their supporters are.
- They have the conversation well.
- They look after the people who say yes.
This is a question of capability, not generosity, and capability can be built, so no charity need miss out.
If you would like a chat about how we can help make sure your organisation is set up properly to receive and honour a significant increase in Gifts in Wills, get in touch today.
WATCH OUR VIDEO ON THE GREAT WEALTH TRANSFER
Sources: JBWere New Zealand, The Bequest Report 2025 (estate values, charity share, international comparisons and projections); BERL for Community Foundations of Aotearoa New Zealand (interest in gifts in wills and share of wills naming a charity); Cabinet Office Behavioural Insights Team, Applying Behavioural Insights to Charitable Giving, May 2013.
