Millennials give less to charity than any other generation

Millennials may struggle to donate to charities during their lifetimes, but this does not mean they cannot leave a lasting legacy that helps future generations. Often the best way to do this is by making a Will with a gift to charity in it.

The younger generation, whilst eager to volunteer and play an active role in promoting charities, are restricted by the financial instability they are faced with from lingering student debts and inflation. However, many do not let a lack of funds stop them from promoting worthwhile causes. Their eagerness to give can be seen through this active role on social media platforms, as they set up and share GoFundMe campaigns to run, walk or even grow a beard to raise money for their chosen charities. Over Facebook, many millennials took part in the ‘Ice Bucket Challenge’ – a challenge that saw thousands of the younger generation tipping ice over themselves in solidarity with sufferers of Motor Neurone Disease, amongst other worthwhile causes. We know that 74% of the British public support a charity during their lifetime. The issue is that only 6.3% include their favourite causes in their Will.

Blake Morgan is supporting Remember a Charity week which runs from 9 – 15^th September 2019, and is therefore encouraging all ages to leave a charitable legacy on their death. Anyone can include a gift to charity in their Will, after providing for loved ones. It can be a long lasting way to support a charity, and is especially useful when you are restricted from donating during your lifetime due to a lack of readily available funds.

Receiving gifts left in Wills is actually vital to the survival of many charities, meaning that a charitable legacy is a way of really making a continuous difference. According to Remember a Charity, gifts left in Wills fund two out of three guide dogs, 6 out of 10 RNLI lifeboat rescue launches and almost one third of Macmillan’s income.

If a person’s estate is significant and inheritance tax planning is a consideration for them, leaving a legacy to a charity can reduce the overall inheritance tax liability. Charitable gifts are not chargeable to inheritance tax so will reduce the value of the taxable estate. If more than 10% of the estate is left to a charity the inheritance tax rate will reduce from 40% to 36%. Often, if someone is already considering a gift to charity in their Will, the net result for the other beneficiaries will not be that dissimilar to leaving a lesser amount, because of the reduction in the inheritance tax rate.

If you are looking to take this step and leave a legacy to a charity close to your heart, any member of our Succession & Tax team will be very happy to help guide you through the options available to you.

We are pleased to be supporting Remember A Charity, which was formed in the year 2000 as a consortium of charities working to encourage more people to leave a legacy donation in their Will. The Remember A Charity website allows you search by location or type of cause from more than 200 charities it collaborates with. You can also watch their campaign video here, which tackles common myths around legacy giving.

This article was co-written by Paula Shea and Jessica Marsden.