Are you leaving money to charity in your will?

[TheRebel]

I work for a solicitor so I see a fair few wills as part of my job, and the majority of the charities that people leave gifts to are animal charities and churches, I don’t think I’ve ever seen money being left to children’s charities or charities that help vulnerable people.

I just wondered if it’s just to do with the local area we’re in or is this the norm?

I've never heard of a charity being reasonably with a percentage donation. Where are all the stories of people saying "oh they knew my granny's ring was hugely sentimental so let us buy it from the estate"? Deafening silence.

Princess - missing the point there.

But Liz, the lawyers dealing with the legacies will be there to execute the law. The ethical duty to act with compassion will be secondary to the law - that says this person has left us 10% and it is our duty to extract the full amount. Given that by the time we all die, any charity we know personally is likely to have had a full turnover of personnel, it seems a lot safer to stick to a lump sum.

Never
I know of two animal charities in my home city and I know ( FACT) that they don't actually have the animals they show in pictures to get donations. One of them hasn't had dogs for years, but his shop run by elderly volunteers still takes donations and worse still the CEO who is both the founder and treasurer won't allow anyone to verify the books.

Put me off animal charities forever.

That's dreadful, mrcharlie, but most charities are not like that. There are some excellent ones.