Legacy boost for charities as ILM teams up with Farewill

The ILM has teamed up with award-winning will writing firm Farewill to help ensure its services are optimised for the needs of ILM members.

ILM CEO Matthew Lagden, said: “Farewill is a key supplier to the charity sector and the will writer used by more of our members than any other, which is why we chose to embark on this partnership.

“Its service sees one in four people leave a legacy to charity. On average 15% of wills contain a gift to charity, so we know that Farewill significantly outperforms other providers on this key metric.”

The Institute will be providing consultancy services, working with Farewill to ensure its free will products meet member charities’ needs and give them the protection and security they rightly expect from a will writing provider.

Farewill already partners with some of the UK’s biggest charities, including Age UK, Cancer Research UK and British Heart Foundation, as well as supporting hundreds of others in the development of their legacy fundraising programmes – among them The Butterfly Hospice Trust, East Anglian Air Ambulance and King’s College London.

Dan Garrett, founder and CEO of Farewill, said: “Matthew and his team are at the forefront of best practice, working across the sector to set clear standards, deliver essential training, and elevate standards across the board.

“The next 10 years represents a huge opportunity for charities of all shapes and sizes, and we’re committed to working with innovative partners to make the most of it. We’ve learnt a huge amount from Matthew already and look forward to an even closer relationship going forward.”

Matthew continued: “In our view, not only are their products best in class, but Farewill has a real commitment to understanding and supporting the charity sector.

“Increasingly our members are responsible for both legacy promotion and legacy management, and we want to ensure that we represent and protect their interests across the full range of their responsibilities. We know Farewill already works with many of our members, and we believe by aligning our two organisations more closely, we can use our influence to ensure our members’ best interests are always at the forefront of the relationship.

“I believe this will be especially useful for smaller charities, who often lack the resources and time to undertake their own research about the best free will writing partners to engage with.

By working with Farewill, we can help save them time and money and hopefully enable them to increase the number of legacies they receive in the future.”

While making the point that the ILM only works with firms who provide services that members know, use and trust, he says this case is slightly different because, as well as members using Farewill, he and his sister used the firm to draw up a will for their late mother.

“I was impressed by their service then and have been recommending them ever since. And yes, her will did include a gift to her favourite charity,” added Matthew.

Estimates show that intergenerational wealth transfer between now and 2030 will be around £2 trillion as the wealth currently held by the over 60s generation is passed on, and the ILM says this means it is now more important than ever for charities to do everything they can to maximise legacy potential.

“We all know that the next decade will be critical for securing the legacy income that will keep charities financially secure long into the future, and we are taking a long-term view to ensure that both ILM and its member charities are financially secure.

“Signing up with Farewill means charities can offer supporters a free will writing product that is quick and easy to complete and includes customised landing pages and optimised legacy messages to encourage individuals to leave a gift in their will,” concluded Matthew.

This approach is so successful that over one in four Farewill wills contain legacies – nearly double the normal industry standard. Almost 70% of these are residuary gifts, which is important because residuary gifts deliver 84% of all legacy income. Farewill’s success is due to the optimised construction of its will writing journey. It’s easy to use and includes key prompts to ensure that everyone who wishes to leave a gift to charity does so.

Charities further benefit because Farewill’s in-house technology provides real-time data on gifts in wills, including monthly reports on legacy performance and forecasting, as well as detailed demographic insights, enabling legacy teams to monitor campaign successes and plan for the future.

In total, since its launch in 2016, Farewill customers have pledged over £960 million to charity and the firm’s achievements have seen it named National Will Writing Firm of the Year for four years running alongside accolades including Probate Provider of the Year.