FAQ for lawyers
What’s the easiest way to search a charity name?
Firstly type in a key word which sums up the organisation you are seeking. If this does not identify the organisation you are seeking, try an advanced search which brings up key words, commonly known as names, geographic regions and charity sectors.
What information will I find? Why don’t I just search the charity services register?
Very rarely will your client know the official name of the organisation, and sometimes they are very vague about their intentions. “I want to leave a bequest to the ambulance service”, “I want to help orphans in Romania”, “I want to support my local community”. While you would not want to recommend a particular charity, you could provide your client with a list of appropriate charities, meeting their criteria, or you could suggest that the client have a look at Quest For A Bequest to identify the appropriate charity. Or if it is clear that the client wishes to support their local ambulance service, you can easily find the correct name of the charity that provides the service in your community.
Looking through websites to find official names and CC numbers is time consuming, and searching the Charities Services website often provide far too much information. Trying to phone the organisation and identifying who is the appropriate person to talk to, can take up your precious time.
Why don't I just phone the charity?
Contacting a bequest fundraiser by phone is not always easy. Sometimes the receptionist does not know what a bequest is, and sometimes they put you through to the fundraising department, and no one answers the phone. With Quest For A Bequest you cut through the clutter to find exactly what you need, and you can cut and paste the name and CC number, the preferred bequest wording, and supply any specific notes to your client. You can also look up the organisation's listing while your client is sitting with you, and confirm that this is the right organisation.
How many charities are listed?
There are basic listings of over 700 organisations that have previously received bequests and more detailed listings of charities which have paid to be listed.
What is the price of membership for charities?
Currently a one year listing is $99.0 + GST per organisation. We can negotiate for organisations with multiple branches or divisions.
What is the price of membership for lawyers?
The service is free for lawyers.
Who is behind Quest For A Bequest?
Reg and Heather Newell, a lawyer and a fundraiser who both have more than 30 year’s experience in their sectors have come together to make it easy for lawyers to find the right bequest information and for charities to be sure that they receive the bequest their donor intended.
Is there a connection with Include A Charity or the Charity Gazette
There is absolutely no connection between Include A Charity, which has been deregistered as a charitable trust by the Fundraising Institute of New Zealand, and Quest For A Bequest Ltd which is a commercial operation. Include A Charity last ran a bequest promotional campaign in 2017. Quest For A Bequest Ltd is offering an online bequest listing service to make it easy for you to list the correct name, wording and CC number for a charitable bequest. Charity Gazette has also discontinued its printed booklet.
FAQ for Charities
Frequently asked questions for charities
How do I list my charity?
First you will register yourself as a member – this includes your name and email address and the organisation for which you will be responsible. If there are a number of organisations in your group, you will need either a separate member email for each one, or else we can help you with achieving a group listing. The registration process takes you to the payment options – credit card, direct credit or invoice.
Do I have to be a registered Charity?
No, you can include your incorporated society number instead.
What does it cost?
$99+ GST for a 12month subscription. We will notify you by email when your subscription is due for renewal.
What information can we record?
Basically you will be registering your official name, CC number or incorporated society number and preferred wording for the lawyer to include in the bequest. We also provide a notes section for you to add information about your structure, your purposes, how you will use a bequest and previous history. You can provide a hyperlink to your bequest web site page. However we also ask you for more information to add to our search function. You can record your geographic region, your service sector, names you are known by, and you can include up to four words that will help with an advanced search. The advanced search function is only operational for members.
Why wouldn’t a lawyer just search the charities services register?
Very rarely will their client know the official name of the organisation, and sometimes they are very vague about their intentions. “I want to leave a bequest to the ambulance service”, “I want to help orphans in Romania”, “I want to support my local community”. While a lawyer should not recommend a particular charity, they could provide their client with a list of appropriate charities, meeting their criteria, or they could suggest that the client have a look at Quest For A Bequest to identify the appropriate charity. Or if it is clear that the client wishes to support their local ambulance service, the lawyer can easily find the correct name of the charity that provides the service in your community.
Looking through websites to find official names and CC numbers is time consuming, and searching the Charities Services website often provides far too much information. Test out your own organisation to see how easy or hard it might be to find the right organisation name, amongst all the options, and then try finding the right bequest information. Ask a friend to phone up your own organisation to see how easy it is to be put through to the bequest manager.
In past times, there was a printed publication called the Charity Gazette which advertised charity bequest information and was sent to all lawyers. This publication no longer exists.
Why wouldn't a lawyer just phone me?
Have you ever tried phoning your own organisation to hear what kind of experience a donor or lawyer might receive? What happens on your landline? Does the receptionist know what a bequest is, and who should handle it? Do you know how many calls you have missed if you don't answer your phone, or don't have any one answering your landline? Believe me when I say that many charities are poor about communications. If you always have your mobile with you, please remember that some of your donors may not be enthusiastic about calling you on a mobile, and reception is not always good. And if you are taking a call on a mobile, how good are you at following up with change of contact details and actions that need to be done. What happens to your donor contacts when you leave the organisation?
Our details are on our website!
Through Quest For A Bequest you can provide the listing of your bequest landing page, rather than asking a lawyer to troll through your website looking for the bequest page. Anything that makes it easy for the lawyer to find what they are looking for in one single place, ensures that your name and your preferred bequest wording is used correctly. And to find your website, the lawyer needs to know your correct name. With Quest For A Bequest you can include nick names or search terms that will help to find you correctly, even if your official name is not the name you are commonly known by.
How many charities are listed?
There are basic listings of over 700 organisations that have previously received bequests and more detailed listings of charities which have subscribed to the service. In due course we will remove the listings of organisations which have not paid.
How do I know if anyone is looking at our listing?
We have included a viewing counter which gives an indication of how many views the page has received. We cannot guarantee that the viewing is by a lawyer or a donor as any viewing is counted, including those made by you. However if you are running a bequest campaign, we suggest that you take note of the number of views at the beginning of your campaign, and again at the end of the campaign to see whether your average number of views a month have increased.
what is a codicil and should we recommend it?
Please do not recommend a codicil in your notes section. This option only makes things more complicated for the lawyer or even the executors of the will. In these days of word processing, it is actually easier to redo the entire will as one document, rather than risk complicating matters at the time of probate.
What is the price of membership for lawyers?
The service is free for lawyers.
How many lawyers will be using the service?
There are 12,500 lawyers receiving the magazine Law Talk once a month. LawTalk has published an article about our service in the November 2018 magazine and we will be advertising in the December 2018 and Jan/Feb issues 2019. And on a regular basis from then on. We will also be contacting lawyers directly through mail and email. Virtually evey law firm in the country will provide a wills service.
Who is behind Quest For A Bequest?
Reg and Heather Newell, a lawyer and a fundraiser who both have more than 30 year’s experience in their sectors have come together to make it easy for lawyers to find the right bequest information and for charities to be sure that they receive the bequest their donor intended.
When did the service launch?
The service launched in November 2018.
Is there a connection with Include A Charity or the Charity Gazette?
There is absolutely no connection between Include A Charity, which has been deregistered as a charitable trust by the Fundraising Institute of New Zealand, and Quest For A Bequest Ltd which is a commercial operation. Include A Charity last ran a bequest promotional campaign in 2017. Quest For A Bequest Ltd is offering an online bequest listing service to make it easy for you to list the correct name, wording and CC number for a charitable bequest. Charity Gazette has also discontinued its printed booklet.