The nine-county region surrounding Rochester, New York, will experience an unprecedented 42 percent transfer of private wealth over the next twenty years, a new report commissioned by the Rochester Area Community Foundation finds.

According to the report, Wealth in the Rochester Region: A Transfer of Wealth Opportunity (37 pages, PDF), the World War II generation is in the process of bequeathing assets to its baby boomer children, who in turn will soon began to transfer their estates to their kids. The report estimates the region's collective net worth at more than $80 billion and suggests that 42 percent of that, or some $33.5 billion, will be transferred from one generation to the next over the next twenty years.

Separate research conducted by the RUPRI Center for Rural Entrepreneurship, which produced the report, indicates that similar wealth transfer trends can be expected across New York State and the entire U.S. Indeed, an estimated $2 trillion may pass between the generations between 2005 and 2055 in New York alone, while over the same span some $53 trillion could change hands nationally.

With populations more mobile than in the past, the foundation is working to encourage heirs to consider the impact bequests can have on the local community.

"The goal of this transfer of wealth study is to make a broader base of charitably inclined residents aware of how they can give back, improve our communities, and build an endowment to secure the future of the region and the people who live and work here," said RACF president and executive director Jennifer Leonard. "When the time comes for grandparents and parents to transfer their estates to children or grandchildren, they have an incredible opportunity to set aside a small portion to support the communities we love."