Legacies growing in Austria, Germany & UK but outlook worrying in Belgium

Recent reports from five of Europe’s wealthiest nations reveal a varied legacy fundraising landscape.

While record legacy income has been reported in Austria, Germany and the UK, in Belgium and Denmark data shows that there is still a need to develop a culture of legacy giving.

The Baromètre de la philanthropie 2026 or Barometer van de filantropie 2026, produced by King Baudouin Foundation, shows significantly fewer Belgians putting a charitable gift in their will. Of the 17% who have written a will, just 13% have included a donation. This is a “significant” drop from 23% in 2022, the report says.

Meanwhile in Denmark, a new publication by EFA member ISOBRO says that legacy income dropped by 20% to just under DKK 10m (€1.3m) between 2024 and 2025 for the 94 charities in its survey. However, total legacy income has increased from the total of DKK 7.7m in 2023, with 2024’s total likely to be a spike caused by a small number of particularly large donations in what is still a very small market overall.

By comparison, the 100 largest UK charities received nearly £2bn (€2.3bn) in legacy income last year, a figure that has grown 38% in the past five years. This is according to a new analysis (paywall) by UK charity sector publication Third Sector, which also shows that for a fifth of charities, legacy income increased by more than 100% in that period. More widely, figures for 2024 from Legacy Futures and Smee & Ford estimated total annual legacy income at £4.5bn — up 9% on the previous year.

In Austria, EFA member Fundraising Verband Austria (FVA)’s projections show that Austrians left €122m to charities via legacies in 2025 — a new national record, and more than double the figure from ten years ago.

Legacy giving now accounts for almost 12% of all charitable donations in the country, it says. The FVA also notes that more than 90% of legacy donors are single or childless.

In Germany, the 26 members of the ‘Mein Erbe tut Gutes. Das Prinzip Apfelbaum’ legacy marketing initiative received a record €148m in 2025.

Its survey, published in collaboration with EFA member Deutscher Fundraising Verband, also shows that 23% of Germans aged 50+ would now consider leaving a legacy to a charity — and that figure rises to 35% for those without children. There is a significant religious split — 22% of respondents identifying as Protestants say they would leave a gift in their will, versus 16% of Catholics.

In both Germany and Austria, animal welfare is the most popular cause for legacy gifts.