Legacy Monitor shows income up by 10%

The latest bulletin from the Legacy Monitor shows legacy income has risen by 9.8% from this time last year to £1.25bn.

The growth comes as welcome news to UK charities, who were severely impacted in the recent recession, as falling house and share prices saw average legacy values tumble.

Like for like growth shows total income of £1.25bn for the consortium, which estimates the total legacy market to be worth £2.3bn.

This growth is largely driven by the rise of average residuary values, which have risen by 9.2% to £58,300.

Residuary legacies, while fewer in number, are incredibly important to the charity sector making up 87% of total income.

Short term growth musn’t lead to complacency

While this is undoubtedly positive news, charities shouldn’t be complacent. Rising legacy values can quickly drive growth in total legacy income and mask more important factors such as volume of gifts. Long term legacy growth will only be achieved by increasing the numbers of gifts, as values will gradually be eroded over time due to ongoing pressures on estates.

• Legacy income risen by

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• Average residuary

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  value

The Legacy Monitor is a benchmarking consortium of 76 leading UK charities, ran by Legacy Foresight. While only a small selection of the charity sector, these charities account for 54% of all UK legacy income.

Download a copy of the latest report:

Legacy Bulletin - Issue 1 2015.