Online specialist Freewills celebrates 500th official charity partner milestone

An organisation that has helped over 2000 charities to benefit from charitable gifting through wills is celebrating another major milestone by welcoming its 500th official charity partner.

FreeWills is an online, solicitor-checked service that allows people to create their own bespoke, fully legal will for free from the comfort of their own homes. In passing the 500 charity partners mark, FreeWills believes that it is comfortably ahead of any other will-writing organisation in the UK.

The popularity of the platform (100,000+ wills written to date) is down to its accessibility in terms of time (circa 15 minutes for simple wills) and cost (free) and it is open to people of all ages and offers helpful step-by-step guidance.

Earlier this year, FreeWills broke through the 100,000 mark in terms of helping people to write their wills for free, whilst leaving a legacy to causes they care about. Those causes have since benefited to the tune of well over £150m thanks to the innovative platform.

Freewills was founded in 2018 by serial entrepreneur Carl Christensen and experienced will writer Jenny Chase with a mission to create a positive impact that benefits both legacy donors and a wide range of charities.

These charities benefit from Freewills’ “Gifts in Wills Service” which is completely free to UK-registered charities.

Freewills was built with extensive input from will writing experts, 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 said:

“This is the latest major milestone for us and one that does set us apart. 500 charity partners is a significant number and one that we believe puts us well ahead of anyone else in our sector in terms of supporting these causes that need fiscal support now more than ever.

“We had always aspired to reach these numbers and we have had the scale since we set up as we are built on a very sound technical platform with robust systems that remain intuitive for our users – be they customers or charities.

“However, I must confess that getting here quite so swiftly is a welcome surprise. 100,000 wills was a big moment for us and we’ve worked with over 2000 charities since we set up in 2018 but 500 official charity partners is a big step.

“Legacy pledges are becoming ever more important to charities, and we work with some of the smallest good causes to national and even international charities to make it as easy as possible for their supporters to leave a legacy. Over £150 million has now been pledged to numerous charities via Wills written on our website and this Gifts in Wills Service is completely free to UK registered charities.”

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.

Carl added:

“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 Will service twelve months a year vs the often ringfenced month of October 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.”