110 million euros in will donations in Austria – 2024-04-18 06:29:17

Interest at a record level: one in five people over 40 open to charitable inheritance. Austria’s donation organizations symbolically said thank you in Schönbrunn today.

Vienna (OTS) – In the past decade, the volume of testamentary donations in Austria has more than doubled. Non-profit associations are named as heirs or legatees in around 2,000 wills per year. According to projections by the Fundraising Association Austria, last year donations from wills brought in 110 million euros for charitable aid projects run by organizations. Every tenth donation euro comes from a will. Today, Austria’s donation organizations said thank you together in the Schönbrunn Palace Park for this indispensable social contribution and symbolically planted forget-me-not plants.

Anchoring donation purposes in the last will is an international trend. The demographic development towards more single-person and childless households in many countries has led to more and more people – in addition to relatives and friends – dedicating part of their assets to charitable causes. In Great Britain, over a quarter of all donations come from bequests. 7% of all British wills list NPOs as heirs, the same number in Australia. Among Austrian wills, 1-2% include charitable purposes. According to calculations by “Vergissmeinnicht”, an initiative of the Fundraising Association Austria, this resulted in over 100 million euros in donations last year.
“Whether child welfare, care, research and science or animal and environmental protection, legacies for good causes now represent one of the mainstays of the third sector in Austria. Many social projects could not be financed without these valuable resources.”emphasizes forget-me-not ladder Markus Aichelburg. “Representing the entire sector, we would like to say a big thank you to the people of Austria for this indispensable donation commitment as part of their last will and testament.”so Ruth WilliamsManaging Director of the Fundraising Association Austria, on the occasion of today’s forget-me-not thank you campaign in the Schönbrunn Palace Garden, which was enriched with flowering forget-me-not plants.

Interest among the population doubled
The Forget-Me-Not initiative, launched by the Fundraising Association Austria, has set itself the task of providing free and neutral information, in collaboration with the Chamber of Notaries, about how a charitable legacy can be used to do good beyond one’s life and what should be taken into account when drafting a will is. Since its founding in 2012, not only has the amount of donations grown continuously, but interest in the population as a whole has also changed significantly Markus Aichelburg: “In 2012, only 8% of people over 40 in the country could personally imagine donating in a will. Today, almost one in five people is open to it, according to the results of our latest study.” According to the survey conducted in spring 2024 (2,000 respondents), interest is particularly high among childless people. Around a third of them can imagine making a donation in their will.

Donors want to do good even after death
In this country, will donors tend to bequeath moderate assets of between 50,000 and 100,000 euros. Over 90% of the donations already made in wills come from single people and people without children. “In addition, we are noticing that more and more people with descendants are consciously deciding as a family to bequeath part of their assets to certain organizations oriented towards the common good.”, gives Ruth Williams Insight. The dominant personal motivation is the desire to be able to leave behind the seeds of something meaningful: 56% of those interested would like to continue to do good after their death. 38% cite their personal connection to a particular organization as the reason and 36% do not want their assets to go to the state after death, but rather decide for themselves what happens to them. Animal protection is particularly popular in wills, followed by the areas of health, care and social affairs as well as help for children and young people.

Donations made in the will have an impact in all charitable areas
Funds from inheritances finance both ongoing NPO projects and completely new assistance offers. They have an impact across all non-profit sectors, including helping children in need Sylvia Karl, Supervisor of private sponsors and partners SOS Children’s Villages, notes: “The support that SOS Children’s Villages receives from testament donors has become an important pillar of our commitment and gives disadvantaged children and young people a chance for a positive future. With generous donations from the will, many successful projects for children have been implemented, both in Austria and worldwide. Thank you very much for your trust!”
Missio – Pontifical Mission Societies in Austria, however, uses testamentary donations for hungry and needy people in the poorest countries in the world: “A will donation to Missio Austria offers a great opportunity to achieve something really big in the countries of the global south. Through their generosity, our donors give the poorest of the poor dignity, hope and perspective beyond death. With a will donation we can supply a region with water, build schools and thus close prisons. Thank you to our donors in heaven.”, so Marcel UrbanInheritance & Wills Pontifical Mission Societies in Austria.

About the “Forget-me-not” initiative
100 member organizations from the areas of social, animal and environmental protection to cultural promotion are part of the Forget-Me-Not initiative. They are united by the belief that you can leave a lasting positive impact by leaving a legacy for a good cause. With a comprehensive range of services (including forget-me-not inheritance law guides, digital will calculator, online notary videos) and free events, they have been providing information about inheritance law and the requirements for a will since 2012. The need for information is still great: only 31% of people over 40 have already made a will. 50% describe themselves as having little or no knowledge of inheritance law.

Questions & Contact:

Dr. Andreas Anker, Press Relations Fundraising Association Austria, M: 0676/4214706,
E: hurry@fundraising.at