In an NGO or in the Church: Where do the 0.3% of charitable inheritances go?
Last year, 31 million euros were collected for entities and 25 million euros for religious orders in wills in Catalonia.
BarcelonaOne option when making a will is to give the estate, or a portion of it, to charitable organizations. However, in practice, very few people who leave an inheritance choose this option. Last year, 61,854 inheritances were registered in Catalonia, and only 0.32% included a charitable donation, although these totaled €56.73 million. Of these, 55% went to NGOs and 45% to the Church, according to data from the Notarial Association of Catalonia.
"The road ahead is yet to be paved," says lawyer José María del Romero, a specialist in inheritance law who has represented third-sector organizations throughout his career. In his opinion, there are several reasons why so few people decide to leave a charitable donation in their will. On the one hand, she believes it may be due to the population's lack of awareness, but she also believes that the organizations themselves "have not dedicated much effort to raising awareness about this way of giving through inheritance." In fact, she believes that donors are often not given the necessary importance. Furthermore, she adds, inheritance law differs in each autonomous community, and this can pose an added difficulty in some cases.
The vice-dean of the Notarial Association of Catalonia, Raquel Iglesias, has seen inheritances of all kinds in her notary office. Among those who decide to leave a charitable legacy, she states, "there are all kinds, not just people with large assets," although she admits that the majority come from wealthy individuals. In fact, despite the fact that the Notarial Association's figures indicate that the number of people who made a donation in their will is small (last year, 201; the year before, 204; and in 2022, 211), the amounts donated total millions of euros. Last year, the figure rose to €56.73 million. This means that of the 201 registered charitable inheritances, the average amount was €282,238 per will.
However, it should be noted that these data include both donations to NGOs and donations to religious orders. Of all wills that include a donation, testators give almost equal shares to NGOs and foundations (53%) or to the Church (47%). In terms of monetary value, the data is also very similar. Last year, third-sector entities received €31.14 million in inheritance (55% of total donations in wills), and religious institutions received €25.83 million, 45% of the assets given via inheritance.
People who go to a notary to register a charitable will are usually clear that they want to make the donation. "Sometimes they aren't clear about the specific recipient, but they do have a goal: for example, animal protection, or other times cancer research if they've had family or personal experiences that have moved them to a specific activity and they want to express their gratitude or collaborate with them," Iglesias explains. And while in some cases people who leave an inheritance to an entity do so because they don't have family to whom they can bequeath their assets, "a significant percentage of people do have family, feel perfectly loved, and have a structured environment, but want to make this disposition," the notary concludes.
In the State, more is given to the Church.
Del Romero regrets that what is given through wills "is a very small part, for now, both in the State and in Catalonia," especially when compared to other countries. He gives the example of the United Kingdom, which in 2023 raised between 3 and 4 billion pounds for charitable organizations through inheritances, while in Spain that same year it was around 254 million. In fact, state data on charitable wills indicate a very similar proportion to that of Catalonia: last year, 0.34% of inheritances in Spain included a donation to the Church or an NGO.
There are differences, however, when looking at the destination of the donations. While wills in Catalonia were about half for the Church and half for religious organizations, in the State the balance tips more strongly in favor of religious donations, especially in terms of the amount. Of the 324 million euros distributed in inheritances last year throughout Spain, 66% went to religious organizations and 34% to charitable organizations.
