Meet Our PRAIRIE PEOPLE
Medicine Hat Health Foundation’s legacy giving an easy process
When it comes to legacy giving and the Medicine Hat Health Foundation (MHHF), it is a matter of clicking a button… that and a little willpower.
Executive director of the MHHF says legacy giving is defined as a way to giving financial assets through in the form of a bequest in the form of a “gift in your will; securities; gifting life insurance; charitable annuities; gifts-in-kind; and retirement funds.”
“Lots of people want to make a big impact to their favourite charity, but not (everyone) can give when they want to do it (i.e. immediately) so leaving gifts through your wills make these choices really a lot more simple. (Bequests now) are simple to understand. You will be surprised how much you can actually financially do, like leave a gift to their favourite charity in their estate planning or their wills while still being able to give back to their family and friends,” explains Bach. “So it is a great way to make a very large impact and in some cases, leave behind a legacy, while still ensuring that your loved ones are taken care of, when you're gone.”
“We don't have necessarily an endowment fund per se as the foundation. We encourage people to check with their lawyers or financial advisors are experts in the field, that is not our speciality, but what we can do is help them make that long lasting impact to an area in health care that matters to them.”
The donator has an opportunity to help steer the donated funds to an area in health which means a lot to them For example, if children's area medical funding, mental health, or cancer-related causes, the money will be steered that way. However, Bach says the request for donation direction need not get too specific. For example, if someone wants all of their donation go to the cause of purchasing electric beds. When the time comes to utilizing funds, perhaps there is no need for electric beds, have a back up plan for the board to follow.
“I try to encourage people to pick an area rather than something specific. Have some discretion of the board at the time as to what the highest priorities are? They want their money to be put to work right away,” explains Bach.
There is a simple step by step way to examine prior to getting lawyers involved with the wills.
On their website at http:// ourhealthfoundation.ca/ support/legacy-giving/, there is a link to a speciality website https://www. willpower.ca which can aid the giver has to how to specifically allocate. As far as explaining where the money will be going to and what are the greatest needs for Medicine Hat and the region, Heather and the MHHF staff and volunteers can help, but as far as putting it into an actual will, she prefers to leave that up to the law and financial experts.
“With this estate planning, we always recommend using the professionals,” Bach says adding writing wills and giving financial advice aren't their role per se. “Connecting that donor to the healthcare side, that's where we come into play. So we have experience with it yes, but we are not the experts, I would always recommend these experts.”
$18.1 million has been donated to the Medicine Hat region during it's 20 plus year history.
There have been a lot of emotional donations in Bach's time. A lot of tears shed over the special meanings and reasons for the donations, but the reactions of the impacts the donations have made is very powerful.