Leave a Legacy
Making a donation through your Will can make a real difference to so many people's lives.
Rethink your Will
Our vision is to enable recovery and transform the lives of all those affected by severe mental illness.
We are absolutely committed to eradicating the prejudice, ignorance and fear that all too often means people don’t get the right help when they desperately need it. But we cannot do this without more resources.
Currently we can only support a small minority of the 1.8 million people affected by severe mental illness. This can have devastating results with too many people being robbed of their future, written off for life and dying early.
The stigma surrounding mental illness makes it extremely difficult for us to raise funds. The most precious gift you can give us is a legacy which will help us research the best care, empower greater numbers of people to campaign and lobby decision makers and ensure that we can pioneer innovative services to be available throughout England.
A gift of any size to Rethink has the potential to transform the lives of future generations affected by severe mental illness.
The next time you are considering your Will, and after you have provided for your own family and friends, please consider a life changing gift to Rethink. Thank you.
Every gift makes a difference
Whilst recognising the sensitivity of the subject, legacies are increasingly important to Rethink, providing valuable funding for our research, campaigning, advice and information. In 2006/07 legacies represented 14% of our total voluntary income. But we lag behind other charities of a similar size where legacies often represent as much as 50% of voluntary income.
Every gift makes a difference – whether it is £50 or £50,000. If the time is ever right for you to include Rethink your gift will be very much appreciated.
Any gift you leave to charity has the advantage that it will be exempt from inheritance tax and can effectively bring down the value of your estate. Currently if the net value of your estate exceeds £312,000 you are potentially subject to the tax which is levied at the rate of 40% on the excess. After the next budget in 2009 this “threshold” will increase to £325,000.
The main types of gifts
If you are considering leaving us a gift in your Will – thank you. It is relatively straightforward - all you have to do is decide which type of gift you would like to give.
There are two main types:
A pecuniary gift is where you specify an amount to be given. This kind of gift doesn’t always keep its value due to inflation so you might want to review pecuniary gifts more frequently or ask for professional advice on index linking them.
A residuary gift is the balance of your estate after any specific pecuniary gifts and debts have been paid. You may leave the balance to one beneficiary or specify how it should be shared (ie a percentage) between two or more beneficiaries (individuals and/or organisations). This kind of gift does not need updating to keep pace with inflation, because it is based on the current value of your estate.
Please note that you can also leave other types of legacies:
such as a reversionary legacy (this is only received by us after the death of someone you have nominated (ie your partner/spouse or other friend/relative has passed away).
Other people like to give a specific legacy which is a specific item (such as an investment, piece of jewellery or even their home)
Providing for someone with mental illness
Special circumstances require special action, such as appointing lasting powers of attorney. Sometimes it can be beneficial to establish a discretionary trust - a legal structure where the trust assets are held by trustees on behalf of the trust’s beneficiary (or beneficiaries) and where the beneficiary does not have any right to receive anything from the trust; all payments from the trust are made at the discretion of the trustees.
A discretionary trust could be written into a Will or alternatively it could be set up separately during one’s lifetime.
Rethink is well placed to help with discretionary trusts. NSF Trustees Limited is a trust company that is a subsidiary of Rethink, and exists to act as trustee of trusts for beneficiaries with severe mental illness. It now acts as trustee of over two hundred such trusts. Many of the directors of the company have family members who are, or who have been, affected by severe mental illness which enables trustee decisions to be made in a sensitive and understanding manner.
Use professional services
One of the most important points to remember when making your Will is that it is always best to seek professional help when writing your Will. There are many Do-It-Yourself Wills available both in shops and on the internet but we would advise that it is generally best to seek the services of a solicitor.
Specifying how your money is used by Rethink
It is not generally advisable to be too specific about how you would like your gift to be spent within Rethink. This is simply because the nature of our work in a particular region, or particular project can change over time. We guarantee to use your gift wherever the need is greatest. If however you wish to leave a gift to a specific service we understand, all we would ask is that you name Rethink of 89 Albert Embankment, London, SE1 7TP, Registered Charity Number 271028 as the secondary beneficiary if your specific service no longer exists.
If you already have a Will then you can add a “Codicil” which is a “legal appendix to an existing Will”.
Suggested wording for your Will or suggested wording for a Codicil can be downloaded just click here (27 kb) ![[doc]](http://www.rethink.org/display_images/document_icons/doc.gif)
. However, your professional adviser might want to re-word them to ensure they meet your needs.
Thank you
We recognise that a legacy is a very personal matter and therefore we do not ask you to tell us your intentions. However, we would very much like to thank you for such a gift and if you tell us you have already made a gift to Rethink in your Will, then we can make sure that you will not be approached to consider leaving us a legacy in the future.
