Introducing an Alternate Solution to Nonprofit Fundraising

Portfolio Link Arrow www.freewill.com
  • STATUS

    Active

  • YEAR

    2022

  • LOCATION

    New York, NY

  • IMPACT METRICS
    Company data as of Dec 31, 2022
    Estate Plans Created
    714,000
    Nonprofit Partners
    1,100+
MISSION STATEMENT

Enable you to do the most good for the people and causes you love, by providing free access to an estate planning service.

Opportunity

Non-profits require new technology to better collect incremental cash and non-cash gifts, while individuals of all socioeconomic backgrounds lack efficient and cost-effective estate planning tools.

Solution

Create access to estate planning for all individuals regardless of their backgrounds or ability to pay and make it easy for people to leave money to charity. Create a win-win solution for individuals looking to leave a legacy of altruism and non-profits looking for a broader pool of donors.

Example in Action

Jennifer Xia Spradling and Patrick Schmidt founded FreeWill based on the belief that the most effective way to create massive change in the world is to help ordinary people realize how powerful they can be. Their two social missions – to create access to estate planning for all individuals regardless of their backgrounds or ability to pay and make it easy for people to leave money to charity, create a win-win solution for individuals looking to leave a legacy of altruism and non-profits looking for a broader pool of donors.

In five years, FreeWill has already built a comprehensive suite of estate planning tools that have helped more than 700,000 individuals create wills and commit nearly $7.5 billion to nonprofits through charitable bequests. FreeWill is also keenly focused on innovating to break down barriers that prevent individuals from giving and non-profits from receiving contributions. They have expanded their innovative product suite to enable nonprofits to accept a growing range of non-cash gifts through a Bequest Tool for legacy giving, a Qualified Charitable Distributions Tool to fundraise in real-time from IRAs, a Stock Gifts Tool, and a new Crypto for Charity tool that helps nonprofits – the vast majority of whom are currently unable to take crypto donations today – immediately begin accepting crypto gifts within a day.

This keen focus on innovation extends to FreeWill’s focus on purposefully investing in DEI and building a diverse workforce. FreeWill made a commitment from the very beginning to have 50% female engineers. This meant doing 50 interviews per person hired but has enabled them to hire more female engineers through personal networks.

FreeWill exemplifies a holistic commitment to creating positive social and environmental impact through an engaging, innovative mission-driven business model and a commitment to developing and living equitable workplace practices through their growth journey.

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