Legacy giving in Hong Kong is growing rapidly. To explore this evolution, Legacygiving.eu interviewed Ryanne Lai, a lawyer dual qualified in Hong Kong, England, and Wales. As a social entrepreneur redefining the legacy landscape, Ryanne co-founded ForeverGift.hk with her father in 2021. Since then, she has been at the forefront of creating a more holistic approach to end of life planning, bridging the gap between legal expertise and social impact.
LG: What is ForeverGift.hk about, and how did it start?
ForeverGift offers a will-writing service to the public and is the only social enterprise in Hong Kong that focuses on promoting legacy giving. ForeverGift works with a range of charities, from small, local organisations to global names including Oxfam and Red Cross. To date, legacy gifts made through the service have exceeded 2 billion Hong Kong dollars (red: 222 M Euro), with over 400 charities named as beneficiaries. In addition to will writing, ForeverGift also works with doctors, social workers and funeral planners to also provide services that assist with the enduring power of attorney, medical directives, funeral preferences, and life stories that allow donors to leave records for future generations.
My journey began with a defining moment in my legal career. While working at my previous law firm, I represented an elderly client whose sister had recently passed away. In her final days, she had handwritten a will expressing a heartfelt wish to donate 10% of her estate to charities. Unfortunately, because the will was not professionally drafted by a lawyer, difficulties arose during its execution. Further, the will did not specify which charities she wanted to donate to. As the executor named in his sister’s will, the elder brother felt a strong obligation to honour her final wish, yet he was uncertain about which charities or causes held significance for her. This situation sparked a crucial realisation: Hong Kong lacked a dedicated service to help individuals turn their charitable intentions into legally sound legacies. After consulting with my father, who has brought over 40 years of experience in the NGO sector, we decided to bridge this gap. Together, we founded ForeverGift.hk to empower every individual to pass on their life’s values and beliefs.
We work in close synergy with our 69 charity members to foster a robust culture of legacy giving in Hong Kong. We achieve this through a dual-track strategy: delivering expert legal seminars — both in-person and virtually — and launching integrated marketing campaigns that demystify will-writing. Beyond advocacy, we are deeply committed to the practical execution of these wishes. By collaborating with multiple law firms, we have successfully helped over 1,500 individuals make their charitable wills, facilitating a historic bridge between personal legacies and the causes that shape our community’s future.
Our core priorities would be to expand our network of charity partners and deepen our presence within the Hong Kong community. This year, we are launching “Friends of ForeverGift”, a new program that allows us to stay in touch with will makers and help them execute their wishes (via a law firm named as executor in their will) upon their passing. Beyond the will-writing service, we are also scaling up “Five Blessings”, a one-stop professional solution that coordinates lawyers, doctors, social workers, and funeral planners to help plan for one’s end of life through the arranging of one’s will, enduring power of attorney, advanced directive in relation to medical treatment, funeral planning, and life story. We are committed to the continuous development of innovative products and services that empower both the philanthropic sector and the general public. It is in our DNA to evolve—moving beyond simple will-writing to offer a holistic ‘end-of-life’ ecosystem.
LG: Truly impressive. And how would you describe the current state of legacy giving in Hong Kong? In what ways does it differ from other regions?
Prior to founding ForeverGift.hk in 2021, we consulted with over 50 charities to better understand the systemic challenges of establishing legacy giving programs. Through these engagements, we identified five primary obstacles preventing charities from launching legacy giving programs:
– Service gaps: An inability to offer legal advice to prospective legacy donors.
– Stewardship: Challenges in maintaining engagement with legacy donors throughout their lifetime.
– Visibility: Difficulty identifying which supporters have already included the charity in their will.
– Marketing & outreach: A lack of expertise in promoting legacy giving to a broader audience.
– Tracking & analytics: An inability to accurately quantify pledged legacy giving.
Consequently, despite the fact that Hong Kong has a rich history of giving, legacy giving remains an untapped frontier due to these barriers. ForeverGift.hk is here to bridge this gap. Since 2021, the demand for legacy giving has accelerated, evidenced by over 40% year-on-year growth in signed wills.
To date, we have helped unlock over HK$2.1 billion (red: 240 M Euro) in legacy gifts and educated over 30,000 people by hosting over 1,000 legal seminars. Although our society is becoming more open to discussing life and death — and we are seeing a steady rise in the use of our services — this still only represents a small fraction of the population. We are committed to the long-term work of making legacy giving a standard social norm.
In a compact city like Hong Kong, we have a unique advantage: we can meet our donors in person. This allows us to not only witness the signing of their wills but, more importantly, to listen to their life stories. We believe that while fundraising is vital for charities, it is equally essential to help donors pass on their core beliefs and values to the next generation through legacy giving.
Hong Kong is often described as having strong potential for legacy giving. What do you see as the main reasons for that potential?
Hong Kong’s immense potential for legacy giving is underpinned by a unique convergence of factors: a vast accumulation of private wealth, a favorable legal framework, and a profound cultural shift toward proactive end-of-life planning. This potential is highlighted by the 2025 UBS Global Wealth Report, which ranks Hong Kong 4th globally in median wealth per adult, at approximately US$222,015. (red: 24.685 Euro)
Despite this prosperity, recent research indicates a significant “preparedness gap”: only 20% of Hong Kong residents have established a valid will, and nearly 40% lack any form of legacy planning documents. This disparity reflects a serious need to enhance public awareness regarding estate planning. This ‘untapped reservoir’ of unallocated assets represents a massive opportunity to transform Hong Kong’s social sector through legacy giving.
LG: Looking ahead, how do you see the future of legacy giving in Hong Kong?
I foresee a future where legacy giving in Hong Kong becomes increasingly international. A defining characteristic of our population is its global mobility; many Hong Kong people have relocated or hold significant assets across multiple jurisdictions, most notably in Mainland China, UK, US, and Australia. As a vast number of residents manage wealth that spans borders, cross-national collaboration between local and international legacy agencies will be essential. By bridging these legal and fiscal gaps, we can more effectively penetrate the Hong Kong market and empower donors to manage their global estates with philanthropic intent.
LG: What drew you personally to legacy giving?
Before entering the world of legacy giving, I was a dedicated supporter of charitable causes, particularly animal welfare. As a ‘cat parent’ to three rescues and a frequent donor, I spent a lot of time on the front lines. Speaking directly with charity organisers, I saw the constant ‘feast or famine’ cycle of fundraising — the deep distress caused when a critical program is threatened by a sudden dip in donations. This sparked a vital question: how could I help these organisations move from surviving to thriving?
ForeverGift.hk is the answer to that question. It allows me to bridge my legal expertise with my passion for social impact. There is immense satisfaction in this work because it is transformative. We aren’t just facilitating transactions; we are empowering individuals to curate their own legacy — ensuring their values outlive them. For the charities, this means creating a ‘forever fund’ that provides a predictable, sustainable foundation, allowing them to focus less on immediate financial anxiety and more on their life-changing mission.
More info: forevergift.hk
Elly Lont, March 2026
