May is Leave a Legacy Month – a month that focuses on encouraging people to make a “legacy gift” by leaving a gift in their Will (or another planned giving vehicle) to a charity or cause that is meaningful to them.
Each year, local charities are privileged to receive legacy gifts. Many, like St. Joseph’s Health Centre Foundation Guelph, rely on this remarkable type of giving to sustain their work and continue to serve our community.
People make legacy gifts for a variety of reasons. For some, it is a way to ensure their memory lives on in a way that is meaningful to them. For many, it is a way to ensure the charities they care about have the support they need. For others, it offers a way to ease tax implications that come with the transfer of their estate to their loved ones.
Whatever the reason may be, here are 6 easy things you can do to leave your own legacy:
- Prepare a will.
- Leave a gift in your will to a charity you trust and believe in (it can be a specific dollar amount or a percentage of your assets).
- Ask your financial or estate-planning advisor to include charitable giving as part of your financial plan.
- Name a charity as a beneficiary of your RRSP, RRIF or pension plan.
- Name your favourite charity as the beneficiary of an existing life insurance policy.
- Purchase a new life insurance policy naming your favorite charity as the beneficiary.
Written by: Jennifer Hall, St. Joseph’s Health Centre Foundation Guelph
GEPC 