Wills and Bequests
Many people accumulate some level of wealth during their lifetime: a home, investments, RRSPs, life insurance, maybe a cottage at the lake, etc.
If you don’t have children or if you discover that your children will not need all of your assets to lead a comfortable life you have the opportunity to use a portion of your estate to create a permanent legacy of caring and support for charitable causes important to you, now and forever.
Planning future gifts in your will can meet your desire to make a meaningful, ongoing investment in the community. The Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Edmonton Area has partnered with the Edmonton Community Foundation to simplify this gift process. The Edmonton Community Foundation has an excellent reputation for its role in helping donors create permanent endowment funds that provide annual support, and forever. The Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Edmonton Area has chosen to build its endowment support at the Edmonton Community Foundation.
How the gift process works:
You are not obligated to discuss your gift with Big Brothers Big Sisters or the Edmonton Community Foundation, but contacting either of us when you are preparing your will or planning your estate will help ensure your wishes are understood when you are no longer able to make them clear. Indeed, if you are planning to make a gift of $10,000 or more, we recommend that together we define the wording in your will that will make your wishes a reality. Depending upon your wishes, the Edmonton Community Foundation will identify whether a short fund agreement would be appropriate. Such an agreement does not obligate you to make the gift. It simply helps ensure that we understand how you wish your gift to be used once it is received.
Our suggested gift process is as follows:
· Call the Kathy Hawkesworth at the Edmonton Community Foundation at 780-426-0015 to discuss how a gift in your will can create or add to an endowed fund to support charities and charitable activities important to you.
· Consult your professional advisors so that your gift takes into account your overall estate and tax planning considerations.
· If you wish to proceed, have your lawyer change your will to include a gift to “the Edmonton Community Foundation” (we are happy to provide suggested wording).
· Once the Edmonton Community Foundation receives the gift, it will put it to work to support the charitable causes you specified in your fund agreement and will issue a charitable tax receipt to your estate for the full fair market value of the gift based on rules outlined in the Income Tax Act.
Building a Gift In Your Will
to the Edmonton Community Foundation
to support the Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Edmonton Area.
I give to the Edmonton Community Foundation ……
Gift Type:
q ___% of the residue of my estate …… OR
q $_____ (specify amount)…… OR
q an amount equal to the fair market value of description of property at the date of my death…… OR
q description of a particular property…… (caution – contact us to discuss)
Fund Name:
q to create or add to a permanent endowment fund named name to be given to fund. within the ____________family of funds. (If this option is selected the name stated must correspond exactly to the name of the endowment fund you establish either during your lifetime or in a “will intention” agreement – please call us to confirm.
The ________________ has established an endowment fund agreement that creates a family of endowment funds held by the Edmonton Community Foundation to support the ___________________. If your gift is strictly to support ________________the master fund agreement for this family of funds will automatically govern - we are pleased to provide a copy of this agreement for your review);or
q to create or add to a permanent endowment fund in accordance with any written agreement I reached with the Edmonton Community Foundation during my lifetime (If this option is selected, it is important that a written agreement be finalized during your lifetime.)
This option would be appropriate if _________________is one of a number of charities you wish to support through your will. It is a straightforward matter for the Edmonton Community Foundation to create a tailored fund agreement to deal with all of your wishes at once.
Please note that a special tax incentive exists for “in-kind” gifts of “publicly traded securities”. Therefore, it may be helpful if your will gives your executor the power to choose to make your gifts to charity in cash or in-kind (Please also see our “fact sheet” regarding gifts of publicly traded securities).