Giving the ultimate gifts

A CHARITY'S work is never done! There will always be someone who can benefit from the dedicated and often pioneering work of people who make it their life to help others in need.

Yet much of this work would not be possible without the increasing importance legacies play in providing a major source of income for charities.

While leaving a legacy to charity is often a secondary consideration, after making sure the family is cared for, if you do want to ensure that a charity, or relative, benefits from your legacy then it is important to have it in writing.

Still the overriding presumption is that wills are something only the wealthy have to worry about and, anyway, things will work themselves out.

Perhaps that is why an estimated two-thirds of people in Hampshire still fail to make a will, leaving their loved ones with the confusion of sorting out any inheritance at what is bound to be a distressing time.

Unless it is written down in the form of a will, then it is the preset conditions in law that decide how your worldly possessions are to be divided up once you are gone.

Without a formal will, a spouse or partner does not automatically inherit and a charity may miss out on what for them is increasingly becoming an important source of income.

Today, the Daily Echo is launching a campaign to ask you to consider leaving a legacy to charity when you draw up a will and make a lasting difference in the lives of many people.

Most charities would claim that around 30 per cent of their income comes from the legacies - gifts - left by people in their will.

For the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, the figure is as high as 60 per cent - they proudly claim that six out of every ten lifeboat launches are made possible by legacies.

For many people who decide to donate to charity in their will, it is their way of saying thank you for treatment either they or a friend or relative may have received during life.

As chief executive Paul Herrington of Southampton-based charity Wessex Cancer Trust explains, legacies are a vital source of income for any charity.

He said: "With the passage of time, more and more people have benefited from, or become aware of, the work of the Wessex Cancer Trust in improving care for cancer patients and funding research into improved treatment.

"Many choose to remember this work through bequeathing gifts or legacies in their wills.

"These sums have grown over the years and now represent a substantial part of total income. In 2001-2002, it provided over one-third of incoming resources."

Cash, shares, homes, cars and even plants - legacies come in many different forms but they can all benefit a charity.

For trust director Ray Kipling, from the Hope charity, the south's leading medical research charity, legacies left to them allow vital new medical projects to get under way.

He said: "As we rely on public donations it takes a lot of hard work to set up new projects.

"A legacy can help fund new work and we have used legacies to provide insights into diseases such as cancer, Crohn's disease and children's allergies.

"People who choose to leave a legacy to charity are arranging to do good after they have gone.

"Many people support charities in their lifetime and would like to make a final gift, which they do in their will. This can be done in addition to looking after their surviving partners or relatives."

"Legacies we have received have been in many forms.

"We were once left a half share, with another charity of a house and its complete contents in Bitterne.

"We had to clear the house and even the furniture, books and food from the freezer. We even managed to sell some of the plants from the garden to the neighbours.

"Legacies are vital to our future work and we would struggle without them."

Understandably family still comes first and charity does begin at home.

According to Richard Radcliffe, from London-based legacy specialists Smee and Ford, of the 250,000 wills seen by them each year only 13 per cent contain a legacy to charity.

He said: "Family always comes first. Only 13 per cent of the wills actually contain a legacy to charity.

"For most charities, legacies account for about 30 per cent of their income.

"But for others it can be as high as 90 per cent, especially for donkey shelters we have found."

Once the family has been taken care of, leaving a legacy to charity can be a good way to avoid leaving your inheritance to the taxman.

Since Labour came to power in 1997, any legacy left to charity is exempt from inheritance tax, which is raised at 40 per cent once the value of your estate exceeds £255,000.

The tax exemption has encouraged more people to consider leaving something to charity even if it is the old banger blocking up the driveway.

As chief executive Alan Blair of Wessex Heartbeat points out, for them a legacy is simply the "ultimate gift".

"Your first duty as a parent is to look after your children and family," he said.

"But after that then you may wish to donate to charity. By leaving a legacy you are benefiting the rest of mankind and everybody can do that.

"When we receive a legacy from a person's will, it is the ultimate gift.

"More and more charities are finding that legacies are becoming a high proportion of their income.

"If I thought that when I die someone else will benefit from my legacy, then what greater gift can there be?"

There are three charities participating in the Wessex Wills campaign - Hope, Wessex cancer and Wessex Heartbeat.

To find out more about the campaign visit the website at www.wessexwills.org.uk.