American Charitable Bequest Demographics is a study that was published in 2013 by Texas Tech professor Russell James, J.D., Ph.D. James took a new look at just a few questions from a massive National Institute on Aging study of more than 26,000 older Americans that has been going on for more than 20 years.
The study was able to separate respondents into three racial/ethnic categories: Hispanic, non-Hispanic whites, and non-Hispanic blacks. (Hispanic is considered an ethnic rather than racial category because some Hispanics classify their race as white and some classify their race as black).
James found that far more non-Hispanic whites use a will or trust than do minorities, though the gap is closing slowly due to a decline in usage by the majority:
| 1998 | 2010 | |
| Non-Hispanic Whites | 68.6% | 63.9% |
| Non-Hispanic Blacks | 22.9% | 23.4% |
| Hispanics | 21.0% | 19.6% |
With far fewer minorities using wills and trusts, there will be far fewer charitable bequests among minorities, and bequests make up the bulk of planned gifts. But that’s only part of the story. James also looked at those who did have planning documents and the likelihood of including a charitable beneficiary. He found that minorities have similar charitable intent as the majority.
| 1998 | 2010 | |
| Non-Hispanic Whites | 8.5% | 10.2% |
| Non-Hispanic Blacks | 5.3% | 7.7% |
| Hispanics | 6.7% | 8.3% |
“This similarity in behavior is especially notable given the wealth differences between these groups,” James commented.
In other words, a similar percent of minorities with estate-planning documents include a charitable recipient even though they are typically less wealthy than non-Hispanic whites. It’s also notable that all three groups with planning documents increased charitable bequests from 1998 to 2010 (the most recent year for which statistics are available).
Good news all around for planned giving!
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