A recent study from Australia has found that although around 87% of Australians are happy to regularly donate to charity during their lifetime, not many of them are prepared to leave part of their estate to charity when they die.
The study, by researchers at Swinburne University of Technology, looked at probate records from the state of Victoria to analyse how Australians distribute their estate, and found that the majority of people chose to leave their estate to family and friends. Only around one in twenty wills contained a bequest to charity, and two thirds of these were left by people who had no children to leave their estate to.
“Most people tend to think that as Australians we are generous and respond well to people in times of flood, fire and other disasters, but only a small minority do so in their wills. When it comes to our estates, we make provision first for our families and then for charities,” said researcher Dr Christopher Baker.