{"id":3287,"date":"2023-04-27T19:19:48","date_gmt":"2023-04-27T17:19:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.legacygiving.eu\/?p=3287"},"modified":"2023-05-30T17:23:13","modified_gmt":"2023-05-30T15:23:13","slug":"gifts-in-wills-to-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.legacygiving.eu\/en\/gifts-in-wills-to-culture\/","title":{"rendered":"Gifts in wills to culture: the motives of pledgers and non-pledgers"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Hanna Vinckers is a \u00a0master’s student in Art and Culture Studies, focusing on art policy and art business at Radboud University in Nijmegen. Her interests lie in the museum sector and the challenges of engaging diverse target groups in museums, as well as financing and programming. In partnership with LVWB Fundraising, she conducted a study examining the motives of people who pledge and those who do not pledge to make gifts in wills to cultural causes.<\/em><\/p>\n

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To explore the reasons behind people’s decisions to leave or not leave a legacy for cultural institutions and causes, I conducted six interviews with a total of four pledgers and two non-pledgers. Furthermore, this research is grounded on a literature review of sociological research that has explored different motivations for giving.<\/p>\n

Motivations for leaving a legacy<\/strong><\/p>\n

The motives for gifts in wills that emerged from the interviews can be divided into two categories. The first category of motives makes it clear that the pledger considers it important that their legacy benefits the cultural institution and supports their activities. The following motifs can be distinguished:<\/p>\n

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  1. With their legacy, pledgers express the personal connection they experience with the cultural institution to which they want to leave a gift in their will. This connection can be established through, among other things, their visits to the cultural institution and their affinity with the art form that the cultural institution programs.<\/li>\n
  2. The second motive that emerges stems from the desire to express their trust in the cultural institution. They gain this trust because they also give while alive and see what happens with these gifts. In addition, also because of the reputation of the cultural institutions to which they give.<\/li>\n
  3. The third motive concerns the pledger’s desire to express their sense of responsibility. With their legacy, they want to preserve cultural institutions for the future and for future generations who can visit the institutions.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The respondents in this survey indicated that they expect nothing in return for their legacy. However, it was striking that they all mentioned material and non-material matters during the interviews. This shows that they do experience that they get something in return and that this also has a motivating effect.<\/p>\n

    These motives comprise the second category, where the potential pledger is willing to leave a gift in their will because they anticipate receiving benefits from the cultural institution in return.<\/p>\n

    The following motives were identified in the second category (also known as “what’s in it for me?”):<\/p>\n