Learning Resources


At Include a Charity we undertake research in order to better understand the gifts in Wills landscape in Australia.

As a member you have unlimited access to practical gifts in Wills research and resources to provide you with more accurate and up to date information about Australian gifts in Wills and international legacy campaigns.


Estate Administration Guidebook

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Bequestor data analysis: What 3000 bequests tell us about the people who leave them, and the effect on the future

Click here


Where there’s a Will: 4 reasons why preparing a Will is so important

Access article here


Whitepaper: A Fair Share for the Future: Nudging the share of an estate (August 11)

Access the whitepaper here


Legacy Futures article: In-Memory Australia:  Cinderella or Fairy Princess?

Access the article here


FIA 2021 Essential Member Update White Paper (May 2021)

Access the White Paper here


Who are bequestors? Analysis of Gifts in Wills Donor Personas (February 10, 2021)

*Resources from 2021 webinar with Martin Paul)

Personas: Diligent Planners | Distracted Dormants | Trusting Delegators


Estate Administration Handbook (November 4, 2020)

Estate Administration Handbook November 2020


Rogare: Ethics of legacy fundraising during emergencies (Legacy Fundraising (UK))

Link to webpage


Claire Routley presentations and learning resources 

Link to Dropbox resources


Having the last Word – Wills and Contestation in Australia (March 2015)

Will Making and Contestation in Australia – Key Findings ARC Linkage Project 


Applying Behavioural Insights to Charitable Giving – Cabinet Office Behavioural Insights Team & Charities Aid Foundation

BIT Charitable Giving Paper


WORDS THAT WORK: PHRASES THAT ENCOURAGE MAJOR & PLANNED GIFTS 

Russell James, Professor

Access the results here 


NEW GIFTS IN WILLS RESEARCH LAUNCHED FOR INCLUDE A CHARITY WEEK 2019

The Changing Face of Australian Gifts in Wills: An exploration of future opportunities


Related academic papers on legacy giving decision – making and marketing

1. Phrasing the Charitable Bequest Inquiry

2. We the living: the effects of living and deceased donor stories on charitable bequest giving intentions 

3. Testing the Effectiveness of Fundraiser Job Titles in Charitable Bequest and Complex Gift Planning 

4. How to use donor surveys in legacy gift marketing 

5. Psychology/decision -making of estate planning in general 

6. An Economic Model of Morality Salience in Personal Financial Decision Making: Applications to Annuities, Life Insurance, Charitable Gifts, Estate Planning, Conspicous Consumption, and Healthcare 

7. Charitable Estate Planning as Visualized Autobiography 

8. The Family Tribute in Charitable Bequest Giving 

9. Extended discussion of the psychology of charitable estate planning

10. Legacy Giving Demographics and Statistics 

11. The new statitics of Estate Planning: Lifetime and post Mortem Wills, Trusts, and Charitable Planning 

12. How should charaties value revocable charitable gifts intentions 

13. Health, Wealth, and Charitable Estate Planning 

14. The timing of final charitable bequest decisions

15. Charitable estate planning and subsequent wealth accumulation: why percentage gifts may be worht more than we thought 

16. How trusts are more effective than wills for charitable transders 

17. How charitable estate gifts don’t fully replace lost giving from donor death

18. How non-housing wealth is a better predictor of charitable estate giving 


GETTING AROUND TO IT: HOW TO PROMOTE MORE GIFTS IN WILLS 

This report, Getting around to it: how to promote more gifts in wills commissioned by Include a Charity and undertaken by More Strategic, was informed by a series of interviews with 18 bequestors aged 50+ from five charities.

It is new Australian research into gifts in wills which provides detailed insights into a core audience who plan to leave a gift. Quiet and reserved they may be, but this group are incredibly valuable with most planning to leave bequests to multiple charities – many of whom are presently unaware that they will.

Download the full report here 


ENCOURAGING CHARITABLE BEQUESTS BY AUSTRALIANS (February 2014)

Dr Christopher Baker

At the heart of this project is the quest to provide a robust evidentiary base for the development of policy and practices aimed at encouraging charitable bequests by Australians.

In doing so, this project seeks to provide an understanding of:

  • charitable bequest giving practices by contemporary Australians
  • the inheritance practices that help shape charitable bequest giving

Click here to view the report


CONSUMER AND LEGAL RESEARCH (December 2013)

This research by Paradigm Shift was conducted to provide a framework for all future tracking studies and track against Include a Charity collective goals and measure the marketing campaign success.

Click here to view the report.