LASTING LEGACIES
Planned future gifts ensure `memory lives on'
One gift arising out of 2020 is that we are all taking stock of what really matters.
Prioritizing our relationships and community. Doing our part to help others in their time of need so they can overcome and help more people in turn. Determining what our legacy will be when we are no longer here.
“Charities need our help now more than ever to support those in our community that need it,” says Patricia Valleau, volunteer chair of the Windsor-essex chapter of the Canadian Association of Gift Planners (CAGP), one of 20 volunteer-powered chapters across Canada. “Many smaller charities rely on events for support. With the pandemic, events are not options to raise funds and non-profits that provide invaluable contributions and services are suffering.”
Sums of money, life insurance benefits and cultural property that donors leave in their wills to charities are lifelines to organizations struggling to continue their important work. These are all legacy gifts.
“A legacy gift is a planned future gift that designates some part of an individual's estate as a donation to a charity,” Valleau explains. “Some decide to make legacy gifts to ensure that their memory lives on.
For others, it's a way to facilitate the tax implications that come with the transfer of one's estate to surviving relatives.”
The challenge for charities is that many people don't understand what a legacy gift is or haven't even made their wills yet.
According to the results of an Angus Reid Institute poll published in January 2018, 51 per cent of Canadian adults say they have no last will and testament in place. Nearly one in six Canadians who have wills haven't kept them up to date. One-quarter say they are too young to bother with making a will.
However, as COVID-19 is reminding everyone of all ages, tomorrow is not guaranteed.
A conversation with an estate lawyer regarding drawing up a new will or revising a current one can then open the door to leaving a legacy.
“Legacy gifts are typically prepared with a professional adviser such as a lawyer or financial planner in conjunction with the charity to reflect the values and desires of the donor,” Valleau says.
“If people better understood the tax benefits for their estate or realize how easy it is to put their favourite charities in their wills, they may be more inclined to give,” she says.
Striving to inform both donors and charities about the value of legacy gifts, CAGP is committed to its vision of “a better world through strategic charitable giving.”
As the only organization in Canada that unites charitable representatives with donor advisors in one professional association, the national CAGP is considered to be experts in strategic charitable gift planning. It inspires and educates the people involved in strategic charitable gift planning, advocates for a beneficial tax and legislative environment that strengthens philanthropic giving, creates a networking environment
Charities need our help now more than ever to support those in our community that need it. PATRICIA VALLEAU
with like-minded professionals and experts, and provides access to learning opportunities and professional development.
“Our Windsor-essex chapter is now doing webinars for our members,” Valleau says.
Since the chapter's board is comprised of the Windsoressex Community Foundation, the University of Windsor, Transition to Betterness (T2B) and other non-profit organizations, CAGP is able to respond to the needs of local charities as they connect with and retain donors.
“The Windsor-essex community has always been generous in supporting local charities. There have been some significant gifts from estates in recent years,” says Valleau.
Even small legacies can make meaningful differences. Encouraging fundraising people to envision more broadly when talking with donors, CAGP reminds them to think long term.
“Perhaps the donor can't make a larger gift right now. Yet it is sometimes the person who consistently mails in a few dollars a month to pay for a Downtown Mission of Windsor meal that will also remember the charity in their will,” Valleau notes.
“Legacy gifts enable individuals to ensure that the causes they care about are able to continue doing their important work,” she says. “These gifts can be transformative for charities and leave a lasting impact on a community.”
To learn more about the Canadian Association of Gift Planners and its Windsor-essex County Chapter, call Patricia Valleau at 519-9711265 or visit cagp-acpdp.org.