Money left to registered charities went up to almost €500 million in 2024, some 40% up from five years ago.

Cancer charity KWF again tops the list, with €79,842,000, followed by Médecins sans Frontières (€22,052,000) and the Salvation Army (€21,700,000), according to figures from charity donations monitor CBF and quoted by broadcaster NOS.

Animal protection society Dierenbescherming, which collected €19,470,000, ended up in fifth place among popular charities. Donations for its work have doubled from €10 to €20 million in 10 years.

“We are always surprised when people give us all they have or part of it to the Dierenbescherming. It’s very special,” the organisation’s executor Jana van Muijden told broadcaster NOS.

According to professor of inheritance law Bernard Schols, more people are including charities in their wills, particularly the wealthy and those without children. “I see rich parents who feel their children should be pulling their own weight in life,” he told the broadcaster.

Not all children agree, and wills are increasingly contested, he said. “But charities can’t do anything about it; the deceased’s will is what matters,” Schold said.

Some 54% of the over 55s have made wills, according to charity donations report Geven in Nederland and some 8% have included a charity. Researchers expect the annual total given to charities to rise to €2.1 billion and, in the best-case scenario, to €6.7 billion by 2048.