Remember a Charity Week

Mortality is not a thing you really give much thought to in your late twenties and early thirties, but it is an unavoidable subject. Sadly, after the sudden loss of my Dad in 2018 in a helicopter crash, I was awoken to the world of executory estates, wills and probate.

Having left no formal instructions, it was down to us as a family to decide whether to give any of the estate to charity. Having previously been involved in a number of different charity projects and an avid volunteer, Dad would have definitely liked the idea of leaving a legacy. But that didn’t help with the hard decision of who and why to leave a gift to a charity.

Having worked in the 3rd sector for some time and having a season community fundraiser as a mother, I know first-hand any donation to charity can have a huge impact. But there is something magical about a legacy. For want of a better term, a dying wish to make a difference.

We opted to make a donation to the Ocean Youth Trust, remembering a story Dad would tell about shouting “SHARK” and scaring all the kids on the boat as a basking shark (totally harmless) surfaced not 500ft from the boat. His legacy will hopefully make more stories like that.

Working within legacy giving for VSA, I see so often the real power legacies can make to a charity. Driving forward change, building new facilities and really helping the most vulnerable in our communities. Legacy gifts come in big and small, but every penny leaves its mark on the people it helps, they may never have met the person that has supported them but that is the beauty of legacy.

As a family we had to make a decision due to circumstance, but I know now that I am going to make my own wishes clear. I like the idea of a 1% legacy, ensuring my family is taken care of but still leaving something for those that need it. There may not be much to go round just now but hopefully when I am old and wrinkled it will make a real difference.

For me its not the money left behind that reminds me of who I’ve lost but the little things, the faded watercolour painted by aunt such and such, the old rusty bow-saw we took path clearing on hill walks or fossil we found together on a day out at the beach.   

If you want to chat about leaving a legacy, perhaps to VSA please get in touch or drop me an email on [email protected]