By Arin Klug
When I was a kid, I loved baseball. Whenever I saw a group of kids my age playing at the park across the street, I’d grab my glove and rush over.
The only problem? I was painfully shy. I’d hover near the diamond — close enough to be noticed, far enough to stay out of the way — secretly hoping someone would call out to me, “Wanna play?” When they did, I felt both happy and relieved.
Looking back with the benefit of a little perspective, I know that if I’d just had the courage to ask, I would have spent a lot less time worrying, and a lot more time doing something I loved.
Sometimes, asking a simple question can make a big difference.
A conversation that rarely happens
Before launching Epilogue, a legally binding online Will service, I was an estate planning lawyer. Like many in the profession, I generally let the client lead when discussing their personal wishes for estate distribution. If a client brought up charitable giving, we’d work it into the estate plan, but if not, I didn’t explicitly ask the client to consider it.
Upon reflection, I think part of it was not wanting to come off as suggesting it’s something the client should be doing if they weren’t otherwise interested. I didn’t want to overstep. I just assumed that if it mattered to them, they’d say so.
However, when we built Epilogue, we took a different approach. We baked a question about charitable giving into every user’s Will planning questionnaire. Just a simple prompt: “Some people like to make donations in their Will to support charities that are important to them. Is this something you’d like to do?” No persuasion, emphasis, or fanfare — just a quiet invitation.
The result? Around 12% of users include a charitable gift in their Will. That’s about 50% higher than the national average in Canada, where about 8% of people include a charitable gift in their Will.
Why are we seeing this difference? I think it’s simply because we ask the question.
An opportunity hiding in plain sight
The takeaway is that people — ordinary Canadians — are more open to including a gift in their Will than their advisors may assume. But these individuals won’t take the initiative on their own. Not because they’re opposed to it, but simply because it doesn’t cross their mind.
In the absence of a prompt, charitable giving often remains invisible. Not consciously rejected — just never surfaced.
Clients don’t raise the idea of including a legacy gift because it’s rarely presented as a standard part of the estate planning conversation. But once you make the question part of your process, it feels obvious and not so out of place.
The art of the nudge
To be clear, this isn’t about turning estate planning professionals into fundraising advocates. It’s about creating space. Making sure that charitable giving has a seat at the table alongside the other decisions, like the choice of executor or guardian.
Here are a few ways to integrate the conversation, naturally and professionally.
- Timing matters: Casually introduce the idea as part of the conversation about beneficiaries. For example: “Your children are going to be the main beneficiaries of your Will, but you also have the option to include one or more charities, if you’d like.”
- Stay neutral and inclusive: Avoid implying that they should give. Instead, keep the language neutral. “Are there any causes or organizations you currently support that you’d also like to recognize in your Will?”
- Frame the gift as a legacy, not a donation: This isn’t like a one-time gift—it’s part of how someone will be remembered. That framing often resonates more deeply than thinking about it in the same way as a monthly donation or a one-off gift during someone’s lifetime.
- Identify and address concerns: Some clients raise the idea of a legacy gift when asked about the remote “family disaster” scenario (i.e. no living descendants). This may reflect a willingness to give, coupled with a fear of taking too much away from surviving family members. Consider whether this may open the door to a discussion about including a smaller (but far less contingent) gift that won’t adversely affect the client’s surviving family.
- Let them say no: Sometimes the most important part of a good question is that it’s easy to decline. Clients need to feel that the suggestion is just that.
An opportunity with a lasting impact
As a professional advisor, your primary role is to help your clients achieve their estate and financial planning objectives. But you’re also in a position to unlock possibilities—ones your clients may not even realize are available to them.
A well-placed question isn’t pushy. It’s powerful. It’s a chance to help a client live out their values, create a legacy, and support causes they care about — without ever having to change their lifestyle.
We don’t need to convince clients to be charitable. We just need to ask.
Arin Klug is Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Epilogue
Arin founded Epilogue, an online platform that makes it easy and affordable for Canadians to create their own Wills and other important estate planning documents. With a background in both computer science and law — a rare combination — Arin helped build a platform that is not only user-friendly but also secure and legally robust. As part of its focus on estate planning, Epilogue partners with Canadian charities to help them secure more legacy gifts in Wills. Before launching Epilogue, Arin practiced as a tax and estate planning lawyer in Toronto, helping his clients achieve their estate planning, business succession, and philanthropic goals.
Related Posts
