What can 7,000 charitable bequests tell us about the future of Gifts in Wills?
Gifts in Wills are an enormous source of income for many Australian charities but often remain a little mysterious to the fundraising teams who encourage them.
Who typically leaves a charitable bequest? How valuable are different types of gifts? Are most bequestors already known to the charity? How does one organisation compare with the broader sector?
Individual charities can learn a great deal from their own data. But it can be difficult to identify meaningful patterns when working with a relatively small number of realised gifts, particularly when income fluctuates significantly from one year to the next.
That is why we created the 2026 State of Estates Report.
Drawing on data from more than 7,000 charitable bequests received by dozens of charities, the report examines trends that can help Gifts in Wills professionals better understand their income, their supporters and the performance of their programs.
The report has been released exclusively to members of the Bequest Assist Gifts in Wills Professionals Network. Members will also be invited to an upcoming webinar examining the findings and what they may mean in practice.
Who leaves charitable bequests?
One finding that remains consistent no matter the year or charity analysed is the family circumstances of people leaving gifts to charity.
Around 90% of bequestors did not have a partner at the time of death, while 65% did not have children.
These figures reinforce something that many experienced Gifts in Wills professionals already observe in their work: the trend in Australia is very strong for people to leave their entire estate to immediate family. Generally only when there is no immediate family will charities receive a large gift.
Of course, some people with partners and children also leave significant gifts to charity. Demographic data is most useful when it helps charities better understand broad patterns, rather than make assumptions about individual supporters.
Residuary gifts account for most of the value
Pecuniary and residuary gifts appeared in similar numbers within Wills with a gift for charity. However, residuary gifts accounted for a full 92% of the total value received by charities.
A pecuniary gift provides a fixed sum of money. A residuary gift gives the charity all or a percentage of what remains after debts, expenses and other gifts have been addressed.
Both types of gifts are important and reflect a generous decision by the bequestor. However, the report demonstrates how strongly the total value of Gifts in Wills income can be influenced by residuary gifts.
This has practical implications across both fundraising and estate administration.
For fundraising teams, it may be useful to consider how different types of gifts are explained to supporters. Some people may not understand the difference between leaving a fixed amount and leaving a percentage of their estate, or how the value of a fixed gift can change over time.
For estate administrators, careful management of residuary gifts is particularly important. Tax, professional fees, executor’s commission, omitted assets and administration errors can all affect the amount remaining for residuary beneficiaries. These issues can mean a significant difference to the charity’s final entitlement.
How many bequestors were known to the charity?
The report also found considerable variation between charities in the percentage of bequestors who were known to the organisation before they passed away, for example as confirmed bequestors or donors.
For some charities, a relatively high proportion of realised gifts came from people already recorded within their Gifts in Wills pipeline. For others, more gifts arrived from people whose intentions had not previously been known.
One potential reason for the difference is that some causes may naturally attract more private or spontaneous bequests. Some charities have larger or more established Gifts in Wills programs.
The other likely reason is differences in data quality between charities. A bequestor may have supported an organisation for years but still appear to be unknown if records cannot be matched, information sits across different systems or earlier contact was not recorded consistently.
This raises questions for charities about how they are recording data about supporters, how long that data is stored for and whether they can easily match a distribution from an estate with existing records.
Using evidence to strengthen your program
The State of Estates Report has been designed as a concise and practical resource for charities. It examines the average value of bequests, changes in the number and value of gifts, notification trends and key characteristics of bequestors. The purpose is to give Gifts in Wills professionals sector benchmarks they can compare with their own data and use when planning for the future.
No report can predict exactly what will happen within an individual charity’s program. What useful data can do is help charities ask better questions.
If your average gift value differs considerably from the broader data, why might that be? If very few realised bequestors were known during their lifetime, does this reflect supporter preferences, inconsistent records or an opportunity to strengthen stewardship? If residuary gifts generate most of your income, does your organisation have the estate administration capability to protect their value?
These are the conversations we hope the report will encourage.
More than a report
The State of Estates Report is one of the resources available through the Bequest Assist Gifts in Wills Professionals Network.
We launched the Network in 2026 to give charity professionals a practical place to build knowledge, keep up with sector developments and learn from people working through similar issues.
Membership includes:
access to past Bequest Assist webinar recordings
a digital copy of our Estate Administration Guidebook and future updates
the annual State of Estates Report
twice-yearly online member catch-ups restricted to charities
a 15% discount on Bequest Assist training
Membership applies across the organisation, rather than being limited to one individual staff member.
Network members will also be able to attend an exclusive webinar examining the 2026 State of Estates findings. We will look beyond the headline figures and consider what the results may mean for data collection, stewardship, forecasting and estate administration.
Join the Network
If your charity would like to access the 2026 State of Estates Report and attend the upcoming webinar on its findings, learn more and join the Bequest Assist Gifts in Wills Professionals Network.
Better information will not remove every uncertainty from Gifts in Wills. But it can help charities understand their supporters, evaluate their programs and make decisions with greater confidence.
- Morgan Koegel, Managing Director, Bequest Assist
