Legacies Left to a Charity under a Supporter’s Will

Charities will usually publicise to supporters - often on their website - the fact that the charity encourages the giving of legacies. If a charity engages a third party to carry out legacy marketing, the charity must comply with the relevant provisions of charity legislation relating to professional fundraisers.  

For some charities, legacies are a large part of their fundraising income. As part of their ‘marketing’ of legacies, a charity might offer to meet the relevant legal costs of a supporter who expresses the wish to include a legacy to the charity in their will. (Donors should always obtain independent legal advice when making a will.) 

A legacy is exempt from inheritance tax, so the donor's estate saves tax that it would otherwise have to pay.

For template sets of suitable wording that a supporter of a charity can include in their will for the purpose of leaving a legacy to that charity, and for guidance about use of such wording, see Legacies to charities under donors’ Wills. That wording covers cash legacies only. 

A supporter might wish to leave one or more items or investments or property to a charity instead of cash. In such cases the donor should receive professional legal advice before signing their will, and where possible the charity should be involved to minimise any risk of the donation failing to take effect in law and to minimise the risk of any other difficulty arising out of the proposed donation.