What structure do our not for profits have to truly capture donor-intent over twenty, fifty or a hundred years?
Most of us working in fundraising will have experienced firsthand or heard of situations where a significant lump sum has fallen unexpectedly on a NFP, that doesn’t really have the infrastructure to appropriately handle large amounts of money. How widespread is this phenomenon? Well, here is the punchline, in NZ we actually have no idea. The closest we can come to understanding the numbers is to look further afield to Britain., and then infer…
At the time of writing, August 2026, there is very little reliable NZ research to help us understand the accurate % of legacy gifts, whereby the charity was informed of the gift prior to the donor passing.
The closest we have in this side of the globe is from Community Foundations of Aotearoa New Zealand (who commissioned research by independent consultancy BERL) which surveyed more than 3000 New Zealanders who donate to charity…
When the legacy databases of sixteen large UK charities were examined
- 14% of donors had told the charity the gift was coming.
- 35% came from recognised supporters who had never said a word about it.
- 52% came from pople apparently unknown to the charity altogether.
No surprises that decisions about charitable bequests are made quietly, without the charity, or even the donor’s family knowing. We do need to fully respect these personal and sensitive decisions. However, by opening more conversations around this and NFPs being fully prepared for the chance of this happening, we can as a sector become more robust to handle these situations. By doing so, we can fully lean into donor-intent and ensure that generous kiwi’s gifts are truly being invested in the desired way.
At TFA, we actively encourage these types of conversations to happen earlier, so we properly say thank you, and so that the family of the donor are also aware of the desire to gift to a NFP. Sometimes it’s a surprise to all!
This raises two questions we would like you to consider:
What structure do NZ’s NFPs need to have to truly capture donor intent over twenty, or fifty years?
What would the NFP ecosystem need to look like to have accurate data to understand the gift in wills fundraising potential in NZ?
Source: Legacy Futures, “Uncovering the Invisible Legator” Legacy Briefing, March 2018,
