Accountants well-placed to promote culture of philanthropy, Leigh says

“Charities, social enterprises and other purpose‑driven organisations do work that sits at the heart of Australian life. They support people in crisis. They build social connection. They enrich our cultural life. They expand opportunity. They carry knowledge, memory and trust. In many communities, they are the first to spot hardship and the first to respond,” Leigh said.

“For that reason, a stronger culture of giving matters. It matters for resilience. It matters for fairness. It matters for the long future.”

Amid this ‘once-in-a-generation’ wealth transfer, Leigh said accountants would play a front-line role in helping Australians shape their legacies and estate plans.

“Accountants sit close to the financial lives of households, families and small businesses. They see the build‑up of wealth, the shape of an estate, and the values embedded in how people earn, save and spend,” he said. 

“They carry trust. A gentle prompt from a trusted adviser can open a door that glossy marketing alone never will.”

Currently, Leigh said that only 1 per cent of Australia’s inheritances went to for-purpose organisations. This paled in comparison to giving rates in the United States (4.4 per cent) and UK (3.7 per cent).

Australia also lagged in its participation rates. JBWere estimated that 6.5 per cent of Australian wills included a charity, compared to 10 per cent of US wills and 13.7 per cent in the UK.

To boost philanthropic giving, Leigh said there were a few different approaches that could be taken. Firstly, he said that Australians would need to improve their ‘death literacy’ - in other words, get over their aversion to talking about death.

“The first part of the answer is cultural. We need more Australians to talk about death with a little more ease and a little less discomfort,” Leigh said.

“Death literacy and grief literacy sound like specialised terms, yet the underlying idea is simple. Families do better when the hard conversation happens early. Communities do better when planning replaces confusion. Charities do better when a donor’s wishes are clear, shared and written down.”

Aside from that, he added that Australia needed to make it easier to write wills and bring them more in line with other modern finance functions.

“For years, estate planning occupied a curious corner of modern life. You could refinance a mortgage on your laptop, file tax online and organise groceries from your phone, yet a will still felt wrapped in mahogany and legal pads,” he said.

For advisers guiding their clients through estate planning, Leigh said that starting a conversation about charitable giving could be as simple as asking one question.

“Estate planning conversations already involve tax, family provision, the family home, superannuation, executors and enduring powers,” he said.

“Adding one further question is hardly revolutionary: would you like some part of your estate to support a cause, institution or community you care about?”