FreeWills celebrates £100m milestone as it sets sights on 2000th charity partner

FreeWills celebrates £100m milestone as it sets sights on 2000th charity partner

An organisation that has helped over 1,900 charities to benefit from charitable gifting through wills is celebrating a major milestone after having helped charities raise £100million to date.

Established in 2018, FreeWills is an online, solicitor-checked service, which allows people to create their own bespoke, fully legal will, for free, from the comfort of their own home.

It is open to people of all ages and offers helpful step-by-step guidance, allowing most people to complete a free will within 15 minutes.

In 2022, a total of £37 million was pledged to charity via Wills written on the FreeWills website and in 2023 a total of £44 million was pledged which means that the organisation has breached the £100million milestone.

That stat is instructive, given the focus that the so-called official Free Wills month tends to bring in terms of the focus of the public on writing a will. Indeed, there may be a similar spike this March, as the second instalment of the twice-yearly campaign rolls around again.

However, whilst those awareness months are focused on specific charities and have restrictions on ages, FreeWills does not, as co-founder Carl Christensen explained:

“These numbers are really encouraging and should be celebrated, not from the standpoint of FreeWills as an organisation but from the perspective that this means more people are getting around to writing wills (there is still huge room for improvement) and in terms of the impact on a huge range of charities that can now benefit – not just the big names that we all know.

“We work with charities of all sizes. We are all about bringing good causes and the people who want to support them together and we can do that through our free will writing service. October and March are often positive months for us as the work around Free Wills Month boosts the focus on will writing in general.

“However, we want people and charities to know that with us, every month can be a Free Wills Month and we don’t have the age limit that Free Wills Month partners impose, or the monthly deadlines.”

FreeWills is a full member of The Society Of Will Writers and every single Will is checked, vetted and approved by an experienced practising solicitor.

It was founded in 2018 by Carl with a mission to create a positive impact that benefits both legacy donors and a wide range of charities.

It was built with extensive input from will writing experts and is 100% free and it is even possible to create a new will to replace an old one, with no charge to do this.

Carl Christensen concluded:

“Over 60% of British adults, a staggering 31 million adults, don’t have a will. We’re trying to change that incredible statistic.

“We are often asked, quite understandably, why we offer our Free Wills service twelve months a year and the simple answer is that we genuinely want to help people.

“Part of that is putting people above profit and using technology as a force for good. We genuinely want to make a positive impact and to help build a better world and we can do that with our unique offering that benefits both our clients and our charities.”

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