The last will: Interest in will donations is increasing

It would take an average of 15 years from the first thought of the will to the actual creation, says Linz notary Roland Gintenreiter. Across Upper Austria – across all age groups – around 34 percent of the population have already written down their last will. For 43 percent of compatriots, reaching a certain age is the reason for making a will, for 28 percent it is due to illness and for 26 percent it is the purchase of a home.

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As a survey (2,000 respondents) carried out in spring 2024 on behalf of “Forget-Me-Not” shows, interest in a charitable will is particularly great among people without children. Around a third of them can imagine making a donation in their will. The initiative is an association of 100 member organizations from the areas of social affairs, animal and environmental protection or cultural promotion.

Interest has doubled

A survey was last carried out in 2021, and since then the willingness to bequeath one’s money to a good cause has increased: “In 2021, eight percent of Upper Austrians over the age of 40 were open to donating in a will, three years later the number has already increased to 17 Percent,” says Markus Aichelburg, head of the initiative. “Behind this, 61 percent of people want to do good beyond their lives.

39 percent of those surveyed do not want their assets to go to the state after death. “But that only happens in the rarest of cases,” says Gintenreiter: Because the money only goes to the state if there are no living descendants of the four grandparents. Between 2004 and 2020, inheritances amounting to 81 million euros still fell to the Republic.

Donations from wills are becoming increasingly important for non-profit organizations: for example, they helped Upper Austria Cancer Aid to survive the past few years of crisis. Through the sale of a house that was bequeathed to the organization, the location on Harrachstrasse in Linz was also financed, says Daniela Fuchs from Cancer Aid.

Donated 110 million euros

In total, 110 million euros were donated throughout Austria in 2023 through wills. On average, between three and seven organizations are considered for will donations, and the amounts range between 50,000 and 100,000 euros. Many donations can be traced back to single women.

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