News & Insights

Supporting stronger futures for charities through diversified funding: Legacy giving and Gift-In-Wills programmes

Across New Zealand everyone is talking about the Great Wealth Transfer, and the JBWere Bequest Report 2025. Since quantifying the scale of the opportunity - estimating “total inheritances of around $27 billion in 2024 with a total of $1.6 trillion by 2050” - we have continued to steward related kaupapa and strategy across the country. Our focus has shifted to supporting our for-purpose client organisations and the wider sector to turn our insights into actions through Gift-in-Wills programmes, strengthening long-term financial resilience and sustaining everyday impact. 

Building long term reserves that generate stable, predictable income is a challenge for any charity. Bequests remain the cornerstone of this diversified funding effort—and represent the most significant growth opportunity in fundraising today

Understanding the magnitude of the opportunity presented in the Bequest Report, and at the prompts of our clients, JBWere moved from research to supporting programme delivery.

In partnership with Jenny Caston of Willpower who specialises in Gifts-in-Wills we developed a programme to help for-purpose entities plan for and grow sustainable and scalable Gifts in Will programmes—and have taken our Gifts in Wills Masterclass across the country to help boards and CEOs from more than 200 of our purpose clients convert opportunity into practice.

Over the last quarter we have delivered masterclasses to our for‑purpose clients in Waikato, Hawke’s Bay, Gisborne, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin, and Queenstown. The inaugural programme concludes in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland early next year.

Each masterclass is designed to leave organisations with a practical plan and tooling for next steps:

• A snapshot of the giving landscape - Quantifying the Gifts‑in‑Wills (GIW) opportunity, illustrated with case studies.
• Prospecting and pipelines - How to identify best GIW prospects, and why middle givers and volunteers matter most.
• Programme design - A staged maturity model from minimum viable to a complete programme, with interim KPIs boards can track, plus elements of a good legacy brochure / prospectus.
• Governance for endowed bequests - A live GIW policy, values‑aligned investment settings, clear holding structures, and a spending policy for drawdowns and stewardship

The JBWere Bequest report is clear that charitable bequests are both underutilised and highly effective: “Charitable bequests have a return on investment around six times the average for all fundraising,” and, even with conservative settings, “we should see an increase in annual levels from a current $320 million to over $1 billion in 20 years.” If participation is raised to a modest “3%” of total inheritances the annual flow “could reach almost $2.5 billion” by year twenty (2045).

Our aim is to support our for-purpose clients to be ‘already moving’ providing them the tools, insights and direction to have adopted Gift-in-Wills policies, refreshed collateral and pipelines, and embedded board‑level OKR’s for bequest programmes — citing the report’s numbers as catalysts. This is the goal: turning evidence into everyday impact, supporting organisation by organisation and across the for-purpose sector.

The conversation the Bequest Report began in 2024 is now being echoed across the market. Everywhere you look you will continue to see the importance of this moment in time as independent media have reinforced the scale and pathway, and many others amplifying the “trillion-dollar” headline the JBWere Bequest Report 2025 sets out. We are glad to see the impact of the Report and the widespread support it has provided to our clients, partners, the sector, and beyond.

Our role is to lead with substance: research first, capability building next, and measurable programme outcomes for clients that supports them in increasing their impact.

Feedback from attendees has been overwhelmingly positive. Many noted the clarity these sessions provided and the confidence to take the next steps. As one participant shared, “This was the most valuable conversation we have had on legacy giving.”

Whether you are at the awareness or outcomes stage of the Gift-In-Wills programme journey, if your organisation is ready to strengthen its future, now is the moment,please reach out to your JBWere Wealth Adviser to explore our resources and connect with our team to discuss how we can help you design a sustainable Gifts-in-Wills strategy that grows with you.

Let us work together to support you to transform tomorrow—starting today.