Including a Charitable Gift in Your Will

Charitable gifts in Wills

More than just a legal document, your Will is an important part of your legacy. Offering to create impact with distributing assets which remain- it's an opportunity to reflect your life values in the impact any remaining assets makes.

Death can be uncertain, but estate planning gives you back some power in deciding the process which unfolds when death eventually comes. From financial distribution to end of life wishes, there are many ways your executor can administer your estate around you.

Incorporating beneficiaries, and providing for children of wider families, is how a good estate plan can do just that. Additionally however, you can incorporate a charity of your choice into the estate planning process.

In the same way as you might leave your children money, a charity can become a beneficiary to your estate- representing an extension of how estate planning can embody your legacy wishes.

Why Leave a Gift to Charity in your Will?

There are many ways a Will can be considered more than just a legal document. Leaving a gift to charity can help create the legacy you want to leave and the peace of mind you should feel after you've mapped out your affairs, assets and beneficiaries to be.

Still not convinced? Our estate planning team have listed a few benefits of leaving a gift to a charity:

Create an impact with your end of life wishes

Many people outside of the charity sector don't realise, but legacy giving actually makes up a significant portion of charitable fundraising in Australia. In fact, analysis from Pareto Fundraising estimates that on average legacy giving accounts for 20% of the annual income for charities in Australia.

Charities across Australia are relying on kindness and planning ahead of people who make charitable donations a part of their Wills. Regardless of how little or much you leave, any financial provisions made to a charity will generate some impact.

Leave a lasting legacy

Considering charities you'd like to include as beneficiaries when writing your Will, can become a central part of how you decide to leave a legacy. An effective estate plan is about taking back the power against the inevitability of death, and instead choosing how you'd like to control the narrative.

Leaving a gift to charity can be a good way to do this, and ensure that any remaining funds in your bank account or any investments, bonds or financial surplus, will be directed towards doing good.

Personalise estate planning to you

It's your legal right to outline how you want your remaining assets to be used and distributed amongst beneficiaries. Taking advantage of this when writing your estate plan can be an empowering way to control your financial affairs and lasting impact.

In making estate planning so much more than just the legal documents and the admin, it's also an important motivator to get your estate plan written.

In this article, we explore how you can leave a charitable gift in your Will to an organisation you'd like to support, and some of the key considerations you may want to keep in mind when doing so.

What types of gifts can I leave in my estate plan?

There are two types of charitable gifts (also known as bequests) that you incorporate into your Will writing with Safewill. In writing your Will online, we take away the overwhelm and complexities of having to consider multiple paper documents; instead making the process easy with online modules.

With the help of our legal team, you can appoint your executor to administer the assets in your estate as you wish. In addition to assigning a guardian for minor children, any funeral guidelines or legal powers of attorney to make medical decisions on your behalf if you lose mental capacity- estate plans with Safewill also make it easy to make a gift to charity. There are several options on how to do this:

1. A percentage of your estate in the Estate Module
   
   After you have taken care of your loved ones in your Will, you can allocate a percentage of your estate to the charity of your choice – no legacy is too small, and a gift as little as 1% can make a significant impact.
   Whether this is sale from personal property, a gift from your savings account or just your assets leftover after beneficiary distribution- you can be as big or large as you would like.

2. An amount of money or specific assets in the Gifts Module
   
   You can leave a specified sum of money, or specific asset of value to your chosen charity. This can include property, shares, jewellery or works of art. In the same way as all your assets left to family, this will be approved by the Supreme Court during probate, and then passed on to your executor of estate to manage the transfer.

Once approved by our legal team and signed to ensure legal validity- your estate planning efforts will lock in your estate and personal wishes. When the time comes, your executor will then be responsible for going through the probate process and administering your estate.

Can I leave gifts to multiple organisations?

Many people have multiple organisations that they would like to support, and with Safewill it is possible to leave gifts to multiple organisations. This can be for either specific or residuary estate gifts (or both!).

Depending on your financial and family situation, you might have different wishes for how you choose to plan your finances for your death.

Choosing to split assets across multiple organisations can be an impactful way to help more people, as well as reflect different aspects of your life values in financial decisions.

Considerations making a charitable gift part of your estate planning process

There are a few things to keep in mind when leaving a charitable gift in your Will. Whilst your estate plan is your decision, involving family can help them find comfort in your assets distribution as well as remove any doubts over capacity in probate.

Talking to your loved ones

It's important to talk to your family about your intentions and let them know that leaving a gift to charity is something that is important to you. This can help to ensure that your final wishes are carried out- by removing any concerns over undue influence which may be raised in probate.

Estate planning can spark family disagreements, and so communicating your decisions on savings accounts and financial affairs ahead of time can help prepare them.

Letting the organisation know of your gift

It is extremely beneficial to charities to be notified of a gift in a Will. This not only allows them to plan for the gift and allocate budgets, but also to reach out and give thanks for the gift. Many charities have a legacy or bequest society that is an important part of the organisation's culture and community.

As you write a charity into your estate plan, part of the benefit can be getting more attuned with the impact your funds will make after your death. This can provide more peace of mind that your wishes to help will be fulfilled, and also adds value to your gifting experience in life.

Your gift, no matter how big or small, is so much more than a financial contribution. It has the power to leave a lasting legacy for generations to come, and benefit people and a cause you care about.

How Safewill can Help

If you'd like to leave a gift, click here and get started on your Will today. Or, to get started on your online estate planning today, reach out to us on 1300 730 639, or via live chat now.