Leave a gift to charity in your will?

By Karl Maier.

Often the people we meet have a cause they are passionate about. They make the world a better place, through monthly donations or as volunteers.  But what is the best way to make a difference when you are gone?  If you are one of those people, the logical next step may be to leave a gift to charity in your will.

You may be surprised to learn how big a contribution to shaping the future is possible, with a gift in your will of only 1% of the estate. You are still leaving 99% to support your loved ones. In this way, you are doing more to help than you ever thought possible, simply by giving in a different way.

Here are a few tools you can use to get started with thinking about leaving a gift in your will: *

  1. Estimate your gift. Consider how much you want to give, using this Legacy Calculator tool.
  1. Get inspired. Consider what purpose you want to support, using your will to do good and make a lasting difference in the world. Need some ideas? Take a look at some donor stories.
  1. Keep the love going. Find out what specifically your gift could accomplish at your chosen charity. Perhaps you could help preserve a natural area, research a cure, start a scholarship, or create an arts endowment.  This Charity Finder tool allows you to search by cause and location, and explore ideas.

*tools provided by Will Power, a Canadian public education campaign about charitable giving.

The combination of estate planning and philanthropy is also gaining popularity in Canada as more people discover that Canada has some of the best tax incentives in the world to support giving to charity.

If even a small percentage of us Canadians left 1% their estate to charity, the result could be as much as $40 billion per year to advance the causes that we care about.

Who would have thought that a gift of 1% in a will could be a powerful tool to make change in the world? But we know that if many people each do a little, it adds up fast.  “Many hands make light work!”

If you are looking for someone to talk to about charitable giving, or estate planning generally, please contact us for a free initial consultation. We can help you support your loved ones and your passion, both.

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I wanted to say thank you for your help with making out our wills. We have not needed legal advice until now so I was not looking forward to searching for a lawyer that I trust. You made the whole process easy to understand and my wife and I feel that, with your guidance, we were able to make the proper decisions in regards to our children’s future. I would have no problem recommending you as you are friendly, professional, you listened to our needs, and you are affordable. Thank you for helping us know that our children will be safe and secure if we aren’t around to take care of them.

C.V.

This is just a quick note to let you know how much we appreciated your personal service in preparing a power of attorney for my mother last month. As you know, Mom is quite challenged with the English language and she needs a lot of clarifications. Your draft given to her ahead of time, your use of regular language rather than legalese and your patience with her in your office meant so much to her. She was just as much at ease as when she conducts business in her native French language. So, once again, many thanks for the human touch.

G.D.

I can’t say enough about our satisfaction with Lianne Macdonald. She was extremely patient and understanding and helped us attain our wishes with our will. She gave legal advice but helped us to fulfill our wishes in a way that worked for us.

B.L.

Del was patient, considerate, listened to my issues and treated me with professionalism and respect. Del put in extra thought in drawing up my will by thinking through the legal consequences of different options.

D.M.