Charities launch legacy survey

A new survey by a consortium of six Christian charities aims to find out why Christians are so reluctant to leave gifts in their wills.

Statistics show that nationally only five per cent of people who write a will will leave a gift to charity. And anecdotal evidence suggests that few church leaders talking about leaving gifts in wills, even though legacies remain the largest source of voluntary income for Christian charities.

Under the banner 'Christian Legacy, the Bible Society, Care for the Family, CMS, The Leprosy Mission, Livability and The Mission to Seafarers, have joined forces and launched the survey to find out more. Their objective is to increase legacy gifts to Christian charities.

The study will also look at whether attitudes towards giving are changing in the current economic climate.

More than 130,000 questionnaires are being sent out through Christian publications and the survey is also available online at www.christianlegacy.org.uk. The results of the survey are expected in June.

 Christian legacy is a group of Christian charities working to encourage Christians to remember Christian charities in their wills. The consortium is open to new members.