The Opportunity
- A survey of “wills created by everyday donors” revealed the average bequest is $78,630 for those who leave a bequest.
- A review of ten years of IRS data found that a typical bequest averages nearly THREE TIMES a person’s total lifetime giving.
- Sixty to seventy percent of American adults do not have a will.
- Called “the great wealth transfer, 30 to 40 trillion dollars will transfer hands from Baby Boomers to their heirs over the next 25 years. The youngest boomers are 55 and the oldest 73. There were roughly 71 million boomers in 2019.
- The number of google searches for variations of “how to make a will” has risen astronomically since the onset of the pandemic. This need to make a will is on people’s minds now more than ever.
- Giving through estate planning has remained steady through the pandemic while other giving to nonprofits has declined.
- Most people do not think about leaving their church a portion of their estate, but we believe many will if encouraged to.
- Creating a will is an important act that allows persons to name guardians for their minor children and make their wishes clear regarding the distribution of their assets. Our product allows your members to accomplish this task quickly and at no charge to them. It also allows users to share information helpful to the pastor and family in planning their funeral service.
How It Works
Faith Wills operates as an annual subscription service to churches and faith-based nonprofits. To make the service available to customers of all sizes, subscription fees are based on a sliding scale, depending on the size of your congregation/organization and budget. We believe all customers will receive bequests totaling three to ten times the organization’s subscription fee, but our goal is a 30X return on investment.
We create a unique page on our website for each church/organization. The church/organization will then share the link to that page with their members, donors, and employees through their various means of communication. A church may also offer Faith Wills to their congregations in a way similar to a stewardship or capital campaign, or as a part of these campaigns. Churches may also choose to emphasize the service during new membership classes, financial management classes, etc. We’ll offer promotional strategy and content throughout. Church members and nonprofit donors will have access to Faith Wills throughout the year and will be able to make changes to their will as they wish.
The “win” for us is not that your supporters use our product. The win for us is that people complete a will for the sake of their family and loved ones, and that they prayerfully consider leaving a portion of their estate to further your God-given mission. To this end, we encourage including attorneys in your church or community. Our product meets the needs of the vast majority of people, but there are services (like establishing a trust) that our product is not designed to do. We believe offering Faith Wills will move some people to make a will who may prefer working directly with an attorney. You may identify attorneys who can help them. We want this effort to be a win for everyone involved. Again, our goal is simply to help you increase the number of people who have a will and to increase funding for the important work you do.
We will provide regular reports throughout the year. The data will include the amount of the bequest. If the donor grants their permission, we will share their name as well. (The form encourages but does not require those who leave a bequest to allow us to share this information.) Additional data will be provided to help the church gauge the effectiveness of its planned giving efforts.
Finally, we recognize that a product like Faith Wills is most effective when offered within a sustained conversation around generosity. Faith Wills can be a vitally important and helpful aid to your ministry, but it plays a supporting role in your more expansive work of creating a culture of faithful stewardship.
To connect with us, please complete the Interest Form using the link below or simply email sales@faithwills.com
