Remember A Charity partners with the BEST Foundation to help spread the legacy message

As part of our work to help support professional advisers to open up more conversations about legacy giving, Remember A Charity has established a new partnership with the BEST Foundation - a membership body for accredited Will-writers, estate planners, and probate practitioners working in the Estate Planning industry.

Remember A Charity is delighted to have the BEST Foundation’s support in promoting the legacy message to an even wider audience of legal professionals.

Research from the Cabinet Office Behavioural Insights Team has shown that Will-writing clients are twice as likely to include a gift to charity in their Will when their adviser simply raises the charitable option with them – highlighting the pivotal role legal professionals have to play in increasing awareness and understanding of gifts in Wills amongst the public.

The consortium works with a legal network of over 860 Campaign Supporters, and we’re pleased to be expanding our qualifying criteria to enable BEST Foundation members to join the scheme, alongside members of The Law Society and the Institute of Professional Will-writers (IPW). In doing so, we will be opening up the scheme to CILEX Fellows as well as barristers; helping to ensure that clients are consistently hearing about the option to leave a gift in their Will from all legal advisers they might encounter.

Philip Pamment, Chair of the Best Foundation’s Advisory Board, said:

“The BEST Foundation are thrilled to be partnering with Remember A Charity. The work that they do to encourage leaving legacies in Wills is fantastic and aligns perfectly with our mission to raise awareness of what good estate planning looks like for the public. We welcome any opportunity alongside this to find a way to do good and our partnership will allow our members to have important conversations with their clients about how they can make a difference when drafting their Will. We are looking forward to working with the Remember A Charity team moving forwards.”

Lucinda Frostick, Director of Remember A Charity, said:

“We’re delighted to be working with the BEST Foundation to help spread the word about the opportunity for people to include a charity in their Will alongside gifts for their loved ones. Members of BEST Foundation are all now eligible to join our free Campaign Supporter scheme, accessing free resources on charitable gifts in Wills and to be featured in our online directory of Will-writing professionals. All we ask of our Campaign Supporters is that they make relevant clients aware of the option of including a charitable gift.

“This simple shift of referencing the charitable option with clients can have a profound impact, with research showing that it doubles the chances clients choose to leave a gift. Appetite for this form of giving is high, with generous tax incentives on offer and conversations around clients’ philanthropic intentions often being a deeply empowering and positive part of estate planning. As such, charitable gifts in Wills are on the rise, with almost one in four Wills including a donation and funding vital charitable services across the country.”