Jennie Mackenzie spent her life helping children learn.

As a former Play School director and early childhood educator, she believed in nurturing potential.

After facing cancer herself, Mackenzie became interested in the work of the Charles Perkins Centre at the University of Sydney. When she died, she left a bequest to support early-career researchers.

One recipient said that support helped make her return to Australia possible after postdoctoral work in Canada and the United States.

It is a striking example of what a bequest can do. A person dies, but their values keep working.

Their money does not simply change hands. It strengthens an institution and creates opportunities that would not otherwise exist.

Australia should pay more attention to that.

In the next two decades, Australia is expected to see $5.4 trillion pass from one generation to the next. Yet only 1 per cent of what Australians leave behind goes to for-purpose organisations.

In the US, the share is 4.4 per cent. In Britain, it is 3.7 per cent.

Those figures tell an important story. A very large river of wealth is moving across generations. Only a narrow stream is reaching charities, community groups, research institutes and cultural institutions.

That is a missed opportunity on a very large scale.

Bequests are one of the least discussed forms of giving, but they are among the most important. Annual fundraising helps organisations keep operating.

A bequest can do more. It can fund a........

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