Leaving a Legacy

by Barbro E. Stalbecker-Pountney, Lawyer, Winter 2001-2002

Attending to the many valuable causes asking for our help can be overwhelming. It is easy to feel inadequate in what we can do to make a difference.

Planned giving through your will is a great way to help.  You are more likely to have “expendable” funds after your death, and in amounts that are sufficient to direct a gift in a particular way. Of course, a simple gift to the charity of your choice is great, but through estate planning you have the opportunity to create personal gifts reflecting your particular interests and beliefs.  Through your will you can direct that a gift be used or given in a particular way. You can create a memorial for yourself or for another, for example. You can set up a lasting gift, such as a scholarship or building funds. The ideas are endless so long as you keep in mind the practicality of what you are proposing and they can be properly accomplished with the help of your estate planner and lawyer.

With an estimated trillion dollars passing from one generation to the next within the next ten years, the potential for increased philanthropy through gift planning is huge and the opportunities for individuals to benefit future generations is immense. Yet most Canadians are not well informed of this opportunity, or of its tax advantages.  (Not more than an estimated 7% of Canadians leave charitable gifts in their will.) Many individuals are under the impression that charitable giving through estate planning is something for the rich and are not aware that even smaller gifts are welcomed by charities and are also tax effective.

In May, Leave a Legacy™ will be launched in the Greater Toronto Area. Leave a Legacy™ is a community-based effort to encourage people from all walks of life to make gifts from their estates to the non-profit organizations of their choice. The program provides information to the public and local charities about estate planning and encourages people to make gifts as part of their estate plans. The program should be of special interest to smaller non-profit organizations that generally lack the staff and often the expertise to inform their donors, both current and prospective of the opportunity to provide gifts through their estates.

You can find details of the program at www.leavealegacygta.org  or call 416-657-4298.

If you would like to add your opinion, or better yet, tell your own story, send us an email message. Your reply may be added here, and may be edited for content for length.

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