Wills that Give Back: Including a Charitable Bequest in your Will this Wills Week 2025

11 Jul 2025

Wills Week 2025

From 14 to 20 July, it’s Wills Week in Aotearoa New Zealand. This year’s theme encourages New Zealanders to consider how their Will can be a powerful tool to support charitable giving.[1]

Attitudes to charitable giving have changed significantly over the past few decades. New Zealanders can no longer write cheques to their charity of choice; there are fewer coins in pockets to throw in the donation bucket; and there are less Wills including charitable bequests. According to ‘The Bequest Report 2025’ a research report published by JBWere (a wealth management firm in New Zealand), an estimated 6% of Wills in New Zealand currently include a gift to a charitable organisation (aka charitable bequest)[2].

Whānau first (but this shouldn’t mean charity/community forgotten!)

Most New Zealanders want to look after their family first and rightly so. You have certain legal obligations to adequately provide for your children and spouse/partner, and to fulfil particular promises; but, once you have discharged those obligations, you have a high degree of freedom as a Will-maker to benefit whoever and whatever you like.

‘Willanthropy’, is a term to describe the practice of including a charitable bequest in your Will. Whether it’s supporting medical research, local arts, environmental conservation, or your high school or university alma mater, it is a way to benefit a wider circle of people.

There is an apt Māori whakatauāki (proverb): “Ahakoa he iti, he pounamu” which translates to “although it is small, it is a treasure”[3]. In the context of charitable giving, this proverb highlights the lasting legacy of even the smallest charitable bequest. When combined, even modest gifts left in Wills can empower a charity to create lasting, meaningful change, for both the organisation and the communities it serves. JBWere estimate that if the percentage of Wills including charitable gifts increased to 30%, the annual value of charitable bequests could increase almost eight-fold from $0.32 billion to $2.4 billion by 2045[2].

Make it meaningful

Perhaps if you make monthly donations to sponsor tamariki in need or support the restoration of kelp forests in the Hauraki Gulf, you may like to consider leaving a gift in your Will to that same charity on your death.

Alternatively, you may like to leave some money to a charity that has supported you or a loved one during a tough time:

• You can add additional wording in your Will to acknowledge this: i.e. “This gift is in recognition of the support that [name of organisation] gave me when [situation].”
• You can also direct that you would like the charitable bequest to be applied for specific purposes i.e. to a specific location where that charity operates, or towards a specific activity which that charity carries out.

Following your death, when your executor notifies the chosen charity of the bequest, they may also provide them with a snippet of your Will that contains the relevant clause and your accompanying personal message.

Some charities also helpfully have their own suggested wording publicly available on their website.

Types of charitable bequests

Adding a charitable bequest in your Will doesn’t have to mean taking away from your family or friends. If you’re considering including a charitable bequest in your Will, there are different ways to do this:

• Pecuniary legacy: Leaving a cash sum or koha. You can include extra wording to ensure that the size of the legacy adjusts in accordance with annual inflation rates from the date the Will was executed to your date of death.
• Specific gift: Leaving a certain item e.g. clothing, dog beds. This may be appropriate if say you are wanting to benefit the Salvation Army or SPCA.
• Percentage of your residuary estate: Leaving a percentage of your residuary estate (i.e. of your entire estate after paying all debts and other gifts in your Will). This type of bequest helps to avoid the potential unforeseen risk that at your death, the cash sum is a much larger part of your estate than you envisaged when you executed your Will such that $100,000 of your $110,000 estate is now being gifted to The Donkey Sanctuary and only $10,000 is left in your residuary estate for your beloved spouse of 60 years. This issue can also be addressed with careful estate planning.
• Your entire residuary estate: Leaving your entire estate. In these circumstances, it would be wise to have conversations with family members about your intentions to avoid surprises and potential conflict after you have died. You should also take legal advice about potential claims that could be made against your estate, so that you are aware of the possible implications.

If you or your family are intending to leave significant wealth to charities or have a strong desire to make a big difference in your community, you may also like to consider if establishing a charitable trust is the right structure for you to direct your charitable giving.

The right name, the right cause

When including a charitable bequest in your Will, it is important to include the full name (and registration number of the charity, if a registered charity) so that the executor of your Will can correctly identify the intended recipient of your charitable bequest. The Charities Register is a helpful tool to find the correct name and number for all registered charities in New Zealand.

It may also be wise to include additional wording to permit your executor to pay the charitable bequest to a charity that has similar charitable purposes, in the event that your chosen charity no longer exists at the date of your death, otherwise there is a chance that the charitable bequest will fail.

Conclusion

In Aotearoa New Zealand, it is estimated there will be a total of $1.6 trillion dollars changing hands over the next 25 years[2] as part of the Great Wealth Transfer[4]. If an additional percentage of New Zealanders include charitable bequests in their Wills, this is going to support a brighter future for New Zealand for generations to come. Remember, without a valid Will, your estate will be distributed according to the succession laws set out in the Administration Act 1969 – meaning the people and charities you care about may receive nothing.

If you would like to include a charitable bequest in your Will and/or put a Will in place this Wills Week (or any other week!), reach out to any member of our Trust and Asset Planning Team to assist you with this process. You might only need to prepare a short Codicil to add a new clause in your existing Will, instead of executing a whole new Will.