Legacies

October, November and January are popular months to write wills and make legacies. This page contains information on legacies and signposts you to resources that can help you encourage legacy giving in your parish and will be updated regularly.

Legacy Giving on average accounts for 60% of most UK charitable income, however for parish churches nationally this is much lower at 17%

Eleanor Stead is the Deputy National Giving Adviser for the Church of England. Her role is to help and support parishes and dioceses encourage legacy giving. Eleanor recorded a 30-minute segment on increasing legacy giving as part of a Generosity and Thankfulness conference run by the Diocese of Manchester in September 2022.

Download Eleanor’s presentation here

How can you encourage people to leave a lasting legacy to your church?

Church Publishing and Outreach have a free PCC Legacy Toolkit, you can run a legacy campaign in church, make and communicate a Legacy Policy for your church.

One of the best ways is to share stories of the impact of a legacy and what leaving a legacy will mean to your church, how your church will benefit from it like the stories from Tweedmouth and Alphington below. Consider running a legacy event in church; this helpful guide offers examples and suggestions of what to include in your event, how to make it engaging, and the important key messages to share.

Please contact us if you would like any help or you want to share your stories and experiences.

Farewill is an online will writing service. Will writing can often seem like a time-consuming and difficult thing to do – and that’s a big reason why many people put it off. To make it easier, the Church of England has partnered with Farewill, the UK’s favourite will writer, to offer a free online will writing service which you can do from the comfort of your home in less than 30 minutes.

Making a will and keeping it updated is the only way to make sure your wishes are carried out after your death, giving you peace of mind that you can continue to support the family, friends and charities you love.

We hope you’ll consider leaving a gift to a local church you have loved to help its ministry and mission thrive for the benefit of future generations

Click on the picture to start writing your wishes.

Download our guide and top tips on Legacies here.

Click here for The Church of England’s guidance on Letters of wishes alongside your will.

If you would like to encourage people in your parish to make their own legacies, click here for guidance and a free PCC legacy toolkit.