Co-operative joins forces with Remember A Charity

Remember A Charity has teamed up with The Co-operative Legal Services and the Cabinet Office to encourage people to leave a gift to charity in their Will. Legacy income is currently worth almost £2billion to UK charities – the equivalent of 20 Comic Relief appeals. However, research shows that whilst many over 40s (35 per cent) are ‘happy to give a small amount to charity in their Will’ after taking care of friends and family, in reality only seven per cent actually do. In contrast, in the United States the story is a little different, with 20% of the population making donations to charities in their Wills. The new partnership aims to encourage a further 4 per cent of the UK population to leave a legacy when writing or updating their Will. This would raise a further £1billion a year for good causes. This initiative supports the UK Government’s objective to make the UK the first country in the world where it is the social norm to leave 10% to charity in a Will, through changing people’s attitudes to charitable giving. Nick Hurd, Minister for Civil Society said: “Britain is a generous country, millions of us give time and money to help others, and the impact of that generosity on our national quality of life is extraordinary. “However, in most other countries it’s normal for people to leave a proportion of their income to charity in their Will. We are working with The Co-operative and Remember A Charity because we want more people in the UK to consider leaving money to good causes when they write their Will, so that we can start to increase legacy donations from their current level of £2billion.” The partnership has brought two like-minded, trusted and ethical organisations - The Co-operative Legal Services and Remember A Charity - together to promote the importance and benefits of writing a Will and encourage more people to act on their good intentions and leave a charitable legacy. Ian Mackie, Sales & Marketing Director of The Co-operative Legal Services, said: “This is a new and exciting partnership for us, and we are committed to developing our Will writing service to make it easier for customers to leave a charitable gift through a range of measures. “Remember A Charity represent over 140 UK charities, so once you’ve decided to leave a gift in your Will, it’s easy to find the charity that’s right for you using the search facility on their website. “This process could generate thousands of gifts in Wills a year and have a very positive emotional impact too as we know people who leave a legacy feel really good about supporting a cause that’s close to their heart. “Although many people are willing to leave a legacy to charity, currently only one in four solicitors or Will-writers discuss this option with their customers. “We believe that our easy to use service, coupled with the moves being made to champion legacies and our partnership with Remember A Charity can make a real difference to charities across the UK.” “In order to encourage this change, we are testing variations to the Will-writing process to establish which is the most effective way of encouraging people to leave a legacy gift.” Rob Cope, director of Remember A Charity, said: “We are thrilled to be working with The Co-operative Legal Services and the Cabinet Office. Most charities couldn’t exist if it weren’t for the generous gifts left to them in people’s Wills. We hope that this partnership will encourage more people to write a Will and take care of their loved ones and favourite charities.”