UPDATED FINDINGS: The presence of children DOES affect whether or not someone would consider a gift in their will or estate.

Greg Warner

March 16, 2013

In a recent blog post I said that I thought I discovered something that would turn some heads and open up some eyes.  But, I was wrong about my discovery.

After conducting a bunch of marketing survey campaigns to unearth donors that already left gifts in their wills or would consider doing so, I dug into the data.  Recklessly I might add.  The result?  I thought I found data that debunked the common theory that the absence of children is a good indicator of the likelihood of a planned gift.

Thanks to Russell N. James III, J.D., Ph.D., I learned the error of my ways. Russell helped me parse the data more carefully and found the following: Survey respondents with a spouse, with children and especially with grandchildren were LESS likely to leave a gift in their will or estate plan or consider one.  

James added, the “group that affirmatively indicated no offspring (and no spouse) was greater than FOUR TIMES more likely to have a charitable plan than the group that affirmatively indicated having grandchildren (i.e. 3.3% v. 0.8%).  So, yeah, I’d say a four-fold increase in reported charitable planning makes for a pretty good indicator (and fits with other research).”

My apologies to all that read my post and were misled.  I owe Russell dinner when he visits D.C. this spring.

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