This month marks the beginning of the Will Power campaign, led by the CAGP Foundation and the Canadian Association of Gift Planners.
Will Power is designed to show Canadians the power they have to make a difference with their Wills by leaving charitable gifts.
Many Canadians feel that if they leave a charitable gift in their Will, it will take away from gifts and support for their loved ones, who they also wish to benefit as part of their estate plan. But according to CAGP and the CAGP Foundation, leaving even 1% of one’s estate to charity can still “have an enormous impact on your cause, while still leaving 99% of your estate to your family…You don’t have to choose between your loved ones and the causes you care about when planning your Will.” The Will Power website has a helpful legacy calculator, which can help with visualizing what it means to leave a gift to charity, and still be in a position to benefit your loved ones.
Some people may think that they need to have a very large estate to be able to make a meaningful gift to charity. But regardless of the size of the gift, it can still make a difference. Will Power estimates that if only 3.5% more ordinary Canadians included a gift in their Will in the coming decade, the result would be $40 billion in gifts to charitable causes.
Another aspect of charitable giving to consider is the tax benefit of doing so. Depending on the nature of your assets at the time of your passing, and any estate planning steps, there could be significant taxes payable on death. Making a testamentary gift to a cause that is important to you could result in a reduction of the amount of taxes to be paid.
For more information, and helpful links, you can check out this press release from Will Power.
Thanks for reading,
You may also enjoy these other blog posts: