Where there's a Will…

With your help we can continue the work of The Plain Truth

by Mary Hammond

May we bring up a rather delicate subject? Perhaps you have not realised that for the majority of charities across the UK, donations from legacies form a significant part of their income. For example, in 1995 a huge 73% of the £23.3 million of donations made to the RSPCA came through legacies. In the same year Cancer Research and RNLI received 70% and 66% respectively of their income through bequests made in wills. So, you can see that without these planned and thoughtful donations, the majority of charities would just not be able to continue to do their work.

It can be reassuring to know that your generosity could enable us to continue the essential work being done by charities far beyond your own lifetime. But how do we communicate that to our loyal supporters without seeming insensitive and perhaps causing offence?

Let's try. Please spare us a few moments to allow us to acquaint you with the facts, and ask you to consider remembering the ongoing work of The Plain Truth by including a bequest for our charity – registered No 1098217 – in your will.

Less for smaller charities

Larger charities – those with an income of over £10m – have seen a growth in legacy income over the past 12 years. But the smaller charities (like The Plain Truth ) have seen their share of the total charitable legacy income fall by 4% over the same period.

We rely on the generosity of our readers to continue to make this magazine available, free of charge, to many thousands of subscribers. For many, it is the main source – in some cases the only source – of regular spiritual nourishment they have. By remembering us in your will, you can continue that support beyond your lifetime.

What to do next

If you would like to support the ongoing work of The Plain Truth by including a bequest to our charity in your Will, you can download and print a pdf of our leaflet. Please complete the form and post it to us.

OK. That's enough about death and legacies. Let's finish on a lighter note. Statistics show that on average, people leaving money to charities live an average of two years longer than those who don't! We can't guarantee that, but we are not making it up. The Legacy Consulting firm of Smee & Ford, whose job it is to know about these things, have reported that the average age of females at death with no charitable bequests = 80.5 yrs; males = 75.8. Average age of females at death who had made provision for charitable bequests = 82.6 yrs; males 77.6yrs.

Facts & figures

• Of the 181,332 wills made in 1995, only 25,236 left money to charities (13.9%). ¹
• By 2000 a slight increase showed 14.3% of all wills contained a charitable bequest. ²
• The number of deaths has been falling over the past decade – and subsequently potential charitable bequests – and will continue to fall until 2012 ³.
• A figure of 35% of adults in 2003 had written a will. ⁴

And finally, where there's a will – and a charitable bequest for The Plain Truth – there's a way forward to continue spreading and keeping alive the Christian message in the UK.

1. Source: Smee & Ford
2. Source: Legacy Foresight consortium Report June 2004.
3. Source: Mortality Statistics, Government Actuary's Department
4. Source: Charity Monitor

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