The Australian Bequest Opportunity, Without the Hype
This lesson establishes why gifts in wills matter for Australian charities, while keeping the opportunity in proportion: large, real, long-term and uncertain.
Listen to the lesson
Bequests are not a side issue
For many small-to-medium charities, gifts in wills sit in an awkward place. Everyone knows they can matter. Few people own them. They appear in a footer, a website page, a newsletter line or an occasional board conversation, but not in the rhythm of fundraising work.
That is a strategic gap.
Research for the JBWere Bequest Report estimates that about $150 billion passes through inheritances in Australia each year. Around $1.3 billion of that — roughly 1% — goes to charity. The same report compares Australia’s share of inheritance value going to charity with the United Kingdom at 3.7% and the United States at 4.4%. That comparison is not a promise that Australian charities will automatically “catch up.” It is evidence that the Australian opportunity is materially under-developed.
The Productivity Commission estimated that about $3.5 trillion in assets will change hands in Australia by 2050, rising from roughly $120 billion a year toward an estimated $500 billion a year over the next 25 years. JBWere’s 2024 report put the 20-year figure higher, at about $5.4 trillion. Most of that wealth sits in residential property and superannuation.
Those figures explain why bequests belong in the fundraising strategy. They do not justify panic, inflated income targets or board papers that treat future estate gifts as money already on the way.
A bequest program is not a quick-revenue program. A gift confirmed today may arrive years or decades later, or not at all. Estate values change. Wills change. Family circumstances change. Some people who express interest will never update their will. Others will add a charitable gift without ever telling the charity. The correct posture is neither cynicism nor entitlement. It is disciplined long-term development.
The opportunity is real; the income is not owed.
Bequests deserve serious, consistent fundraising attention because the Australian opportunity is large and under-developed. They must still be treated as uncertain future gifts, not as income the organisation has earned, forecast or morally claimed.
What makes the Australian case different
Australian bequest fundraising cannot be copied from the United Kingdom or the United States.
Australia has no inheritance tax, estate tax or death duties. Death duties were abolished across Australia by 1979. There is no Australian equivalent of the UK-style inheritance-tax message where leaving a certain share of an estate to charity can reduce the estate’s tax rate. A gift left in a will generally does not generate an income-tax deduction, unlike a lifetime gift of $2 or more to a Deductible Gift Recipient.
That matters because it changes the whole argument. The Australian case for bequests is not “save tax.” It is continuity, impact, values and future service.
There is one Australian tax point staff should know, but not oversell: when an asset such as shares or property passes from a deceased estate to a DGR, any capital gain or loss on that transfer is disregarded. DGR status is not universal; fewer than half of registered Australian charities hold DGR endorsement. A charity should know whether it has DGR status, state that accurately, and avoid giving personal tax advice.
This course will come back to legal and tax boundaries later. For now, the strategic point is simple: bequests are not built on a tax incentive in Australia. They are built on trust, memory, identity, relationship and a supporter’s wish for the work to continue.
What a small charity should take from the numbers
The wrong conclusion is: “There is a huge wealth transfer coming, so we need a bequest campaign.”
The stronger conclusion is: “A large amount of wealth will move through Australian estates, charity currently receives a small share, and many small-to-medium charities are not yet doing the basic work that would let willing supporters consider them.”
That distinction matters. A bequest program is not a grab for estate wealth. It is a way of making a legitimate option visible to people who already care about the cause.
For a small-to-medium charity, the first strategic question is not “How much bequest income can we book?” It is:
Have we made it easy, accurate and safe for a supporter to consider leaving a gift in their will?
That question is practical. It asks whether the charity has:
- A clear explanation of why gifts in wills matter.
- The correct legal name and ABN available.
- An accurate statement about DGR status.
- Language that does not lead with death, tax or pressure.
- A way to record enquiries, interest and disclosed intentions separately.
- A stewardship habit that keeps supporters connected without treating them as future estates.
This is why small organisations can start. The first year does not require a specialist planned-giving department. It requires disciplined basics done consistently.
Treating the wealth-transfer figures as a fundraising target
Large numbers are seductive. A board sees $3.5 trillion, $5.4 trillion or $150 billion and wants to know the charity’s “share.” A fundraiser under income pressure may also be tempted to present bequests as the next major revenue answer.
The trap
Point to $3.5 trillion, $5.4 trillion or $150 billion, ask what “share” the charity will get, and present bequests as the next major revenue answer.
Better
Use the figures to justify attention, not entitlement — a reason to invest in accurate basics, not income the charity has earned, forecast or can claim.
Bequests are a long-term opportunity for this charity because Australia transfers significant wealth through estates, while only a small share currently reaches charity. We should not treat that as income we can claim. Our first-year goal is to build the conditions that allow interested supporters to consider us: accurate information, respectful language, warm-base stewardship, careful records and appropriate professional boundaries.
That framing is more commercially useful than hype. It gives leaders a reason to invest without pretending the program will solve this year’s budget gap.
What this changes
Bequests matter because Australia has a large and growing inheritance flow, and charity currently receives a small share of it. The opportunity is credible, but it is not automatic. It is long-horizon, uneven and dependent on trust.
For Australian charities, the case is not tax-led. There are no inheritance, estate or death duties, and bequests generally do not create an income-tax deduction. The case is built on continuity: helping supporters consider whether the work they value in life is something they also want to continue through their will.
The first discipline is proportion. Take bequests seriously. Do not inflate them. Do not ignore them. Do not count them before they are realised.