The uncertainty of the pandemic led to exploding demand for estate planning and much of this demand was serviced through technology for the first time. This digital transformation allowed individuals to execute and revise wills and estate plans quickly. The newfound attention for this planning also served as a boon for charitable giving. FreeWill is a comprehensive online estate planning platform that gives people the ability to update or write their will in 20 minutes directly from their computers and all for free. The platform provides living wills with beneficiary designation as well as power of attorney, and in California, living trusts are offered as well. How is this free? The company partners with 600+ non-profits and during the process of establishing wills, users are given the option to provide small gifts (bequests, charitable distributions, and stock gifts) to these non-profits. Since launching in 2016, the company has executed over 420K wills and provided commitments exceeding $4.7B to non-profits.
AlleyWatch caught up with FreeWill Co-CEO and Founder Jenny Xia Spradling to learn more about the public benefit corporation that sits at the intersection of philanthropy and utility, the company’s strategic plans, latest round of funding, and much, much more…
Who were your investors and how much did you raise?
We raised $30M in Series B funding led by Bain Capital Double Impact alongside existing investors. The round followed a previous Series A financing led by ICONIQ Growth, which also included QED Investors, Ulu, Highland, Pear, and HearstLab.
Tell us about the product or service that FreeWill offers.
FreeWill helps nonprofits transform their fundraising by focusing on non-cash gifts that can be given in real-time – such as stocks and crypto – or the future, in the case of charitable bequests left in estate plans. Since the majority of Americans don’t have a will, FreeWill has a comprehensive, BBB accredited online estate planning tool that’s free of cost to the consumer in an effort to increase access to estate plans and in the process, hopefully, drive more bequests to charity. We’ve been able to help 460,000 people do their wills while driving nearly $5B to charity since our inception in 2017.
What inspired the start of FreeWill?
We founded FreeWill with a goal of raising more than $1 trillion for nonprofits. We saw that nonprofit technology — and particularly technology around planned and major giving — lacked the innovation seen in other areas. We want to make the highest-impact ways of giving easier for everyone involved, from donors to nonprofit fundraisers, and in doing so, transform philanthropy for the better.
How is FreeWill different?
Based on what we know by way of our A/B testing as we got the business underway, we know that just a third of Americans have a will, and that 95% of people won’t do one even if the cost is just $20. That means that little will change unless there’s a tool in the market that’s free or close to it. So, we have the only comprehensive, BBB-accredited estate planning tool that’s free.
We’re also the go-to partner for forward-thinking nonprofits who understand that non-cash giving is how fundraising will be revolutionized in the future. Cash gifts average just $120 while stock gifts and crypto gifts are tax-advantaged and average $10,000 and $7,000, respectively. We offer the best tools for nonprofits to succeed here.
By linking estate planning and philanthropy at scale, FreeWill is able to make a tremendous impact in a pioneering way.
What market does FreeWill target and how big is it?
For online estate planning, FreeWill aims to serve the vast majority of America that does not have a will but whose estate planning needs are simple.
In terms of nonprofits, we’ve just scratched the surface. We work with 1,000 partners today but through our bequest tool, we have helped drive funding to more than 10,000 to date. We aim to continue to work with more nonprofits and deepen existing relationships with additional offerings.
What’s your business model?
Our revenue is derived primarily from subscription fees through our nonprofit partners for white-labeled fundraising tools to make it easy to accept stock gifts, crypto gifts, and gifts from IRAs.
Our bequest tool offered directly to consumers is completely free of cost to the consumer but provides additional value for our nonprofit partners, given many wills include charitable gifts when it’s made easy to do.
What are your post-COVID office plans??
We pivoted during the pandemic to a remote-first culture with New York continuing as our headquarters. New York remains the nonprofit capital of the world and we plan to keep our headquarters here.
What was the funding process like?
While we received advice early on that fundraising would be more difficult as a public benefit corporation, we haven’t experienced that. There are many funds focused on making an impact that look only at companies like ours that have a fiduciary duty to their mission. We’ve been lucky to find partners who are like-minded and have served as force multipliers in our success.
While we received advice early on that fundraising would be more difficult as a public benefit corporation, we haven’t experienced that. There are many funds focused on making an impact that look only at companies like ours that have a fiduciary duty to their mission. We’ve been lucky to find partners who are like-minded and have served as force multipliers in our success.
What are the biggest challenges that you faced while raising capital?
We’ve been quite lucky in this regard. We’re well-known in the impact space, which unfortunately continues to be modest in size. We’re ultimately mission-driven. We want the world to be a better place. If that means more competition, so be it. We hope our news helps spark new entrants to consider getting more involved in causes that truly make a difference.
What factors about your business led your investors to write the check?
We have an established track record of delivering for our investors, and those who invested with us in the past continued with us in our Series B. Our investors also believe in the opportunity ahead of us. We’ll be focusing a great deal on crypto in the coming months as it’s exploded in value. At the same time, 90% of nonprofits don’t have the tools to accept crypto donations just yet. Between our track record and some of the opportunities ahead of us – as well as our mission – we believe in our value proposition and we’re happy to have like-minded partners.
What are the milestones you plan to achieve in the next six months?
We plan to invest deeply in our products over the next six months. Crypto is a significant area of focus. We began to work with nonprofits at the end of last year to help them accept crypto gifts and we received an overwhelmingly positive response. We hope to vastly increase our capabilities in providing personalized crypto pages for our nonprofit partners, and we may even develop ways for them to hold crypto rather than liquidate it.
We plan to invest deeply in our products over the next six months. Crypto is a significant area of focus. We began to work with nonprofits at the end of last year to help them accept crypto gifts and we received an overwhelmingly positive response. We hope to vastly increase our capabilities in providing personalized crypto pages for our nonprofit partners, and we may even develop ways for them to hold crypto rather than liquidate it.
What advice can you offer companies in New York that do not have a fresh injection of capital in the bank?
Make sure you have your product/market fit firmly established and then experiment with different models while giving creative, passionate people the space to create. You never know where it can lead you.
Where do you see the company going now over the near term?
We’re going to continue to do exactly what we’ve been doing, which is hiring the best talent to help serve nonprofits, and making sure we’re offering the products nonprofits need and doing it in the best way possible. Today is simply a continuation of our progress toward fulfilling our mission.
What’s your favorite outdoor dining restaurant in NYC?
A mainstay around our office in SoHo is Ruby’s, an Australian café in nearby Nolita. While we’ve become remote first, our headquarters remain in SoHo and we’re happy to see Ruby’s continue to thrive with outdoor dining.
