What are legacies worth to WaterAid each year?

Legacies are one of WaterAid’s fastest growing income areas, currently accounting for about 10% of our global income. For some context, 10 years ago legacy income was around £2.2m but we are looking at about £10.6m this year, marking a 22% growth over the last 12 months. We’ve got our largest pipeline ever at the moment of about £15m in gifts that we know we’re about to receive but are going through the administration process. Over the last five years, legacy income has grown on average around 13.9% and notifications have probably been growing about 6.2%. We are also seeing faster growth in residual gifts, which are obviously the share of estates and generally are of larger values. So they’re definitely the gifts that we’re trying to inspire people to leave. Last year notifications grew 19%, with residual gifts growing even faster than that. The Legacy Foresight consortium group puts us as the fifth fastest growing charity in terms of legacy income.

Why has WaterAid seen such phenomenal growth in legacies?

I think there are a few reasons. We turned 40 last year, so we’ve been around for a while and our brand awareness across the UK has increased. Our work is very tangible compared to some of the other international development charities, which can cover a broad range of development issues. With WaterAid, it always comes back to clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene, and that appeals to a lot of people.