National Make-A-Will Month: One Question Could Unlock Your Organization’s Biggest Gifts
Why is National Make-A-Will Month important for nonprofits? It’s an ideal time to encourage donors to create or update their estate plans and consider including a charitable gift in their will. As bequest giving reaches record levels, one simple conversation could lead to your organization’s largest future gifts.
Bequest giving just had its biggest year in recent memory, and most fundraisers still hesitate to bring it up with donors.
According to newly released 2026 data from Giving USA, charitable giving through bequests reached an estimated $62.19 billion in 2025, a 19.7% increase in current dollars compared to 2024. That’s by far the largest increase of any of the four giving sources; giving by bequest now represents 10 percent of total giving. The number of bequests will always vary year to year, but this kind of growth reflects something bigger: the increasing importance of bequests as the population ages.
Experts connect the surge to aging Baby Boomers beginning to distribute assets, an early signal of the generational wealth transfer everyone has been anticipating for years. But demographics tell more of the story too. There are more people without children today, and this is the group with the highest percentage of estate gifts. There’s also a wave of people who created a will for the first time during the pandemic.
FreeWill‘s 2025 Planned Giving Report, which analyzed more than 200,000 estate plans on its platform between June 2024 and May 2025, adds even more texture. The average age for creating a will or planned gift was 53. Younger donors, ages 25 to 44, created more than 30 percent of the wills on the platform while donors ages 65 to 84 gave the largest share of bequest dollars, at 38 percent. Women continue to outpace men in both charitable bequests and overall estate planning: 55 percent of women made a will or estate plan, compared with 44 percent of men. Men, though fewer in number, tended to leave larger gifts.
So here’s the question worth sitting with: how many donors in your database could be making their most significant gift, and the biggest impact on your mission, if they included a gift in their will?
Why Fundraisers Avoid the Conversation
Fundraising professionals continue to avoid talking with their donors about estate gifts. Why? Because they’re afraid they’ll be asked a question they can’t answer.
Here’s the good news: that’s not your role. Your role is simply to begin the conversation.
With August recognized as National Make-A-Will Month, this is the perfect opportunity to launch, or strengthen, your organization’s planned giving program with one simple question: “Have you ever considered including our organization in your will or estate plan?”
That’s it. The donor’s attorney, CPA, or financial advisor will do the rest of the work. Your job is to help your donors consider the possibility.
Why Now Matters
With continued economic uncertainty, including a gift in a will is a way donors can continue, and even grow, their giving to your organization without touching their day-to-day finances.
And while the big bequest gifts get the splashy news stories, any amount a donor includes in their will matters. FreeWill’s 2025 Planned Giving Report puts the average bequest size at $48,723. Most estate gifts aren’t headline-making. They’re meaningful, and they add up.
Planned giving is more about education and marketing than it is about fundraising in the traditional sense. It’s about helping donors understand that they can continue supporting a mission they love long after their lifetime. It’s about relationships, stewardship, and giving people the opportunity to leave a lasting legacy.
RELATED: Explore new tax law changes and nonprofits.
What Your Organization Can Do During National Make-A-Will Month
Fundraisers should make gifts by bequest a top priority, using as many marketing channels as possible to promote them. A few practical steps:
- Include planned gift goals in your fundraising campaigns, and allocate budget for planned giving training and marketing.
- Use multi-channel marketing to promote bequests on your website, in targeted mailings, and in personal proposals presented to donors.
- Invest in your legacy society. It plays a crucial role in nurturing bequests by creating special donor recognition activities for bequest donors during their lifetime.
- Widely share the information donors need to make estate gifts, such as your organization’s full legal name, business address, and tax identification number.
- Share inspiring testimonials from donors who have already made bequests and other planned gifts.
More Ways to Ask
If the question above doesn’t feel like the right fit for a particular conversation, here are other ways to open the door:
- Would you consider joining our organization’s most loyal supporters by including a gift in your will?
- Would you consider becoming a member of our Legacy Society by including a gift to our organization in your will?
- Would you be willing to include our organization in your estate plans?
- Does your will provide a gift for our organization?
- Would you join me as a member of our Legacy Society by making a gift in your will?
- Would you join me in making a legacy commitment?
- Do you know that we have a legacy society that recognizes donors who have included our organization in their future plans? Is that something you’d be interested in learning more about?
National Make-A-Will Month is an opportunity to start conversations that can shape your organization’s future. The data shows that planned giving and charitable bequests are growing, and many donors are looking for meaningful ways to leave a lasting legacy. This August, don’t let the opportunity pass without asking one simple question. It could lead to your organization’s most significant future gift.
Have questions about planned giving or building a successful legacy giving program? Connect with Maureen Mahoney Hill, CFRE, at maureen@advancementadvisorsgroup.com.
Special thanks to Tracy Connelly of Tracy Connelly Philanthropy for the inspiration for this blog post.
—
Maureen Mahoney Hill, CFRE, is the founder and principal of Advancement Advisors, a consulting firm dedicated to helping nonprofits strengthen their fundraising efforts.