Legacies represent a vital source of income for the Society.
By leaving a legacy, you can help build the Society’s endowment fund and safeguard our future work. Unrestricted legacy income can be used as part of the endowment fund to support the development of our full range of education, expeditions, research, policy and public work, as well as maintaining our historic and contemporary Collections. Alternatively you can leave a legacy for a specific purpose.
The Society is a registered charity (no: 208791) and under current UK legislation, gifts in your will to charity are exempt from inheritance tax duty. In addition, gifts to charity that exceed 10% of the net value of your estate can reduce the rate at which inheritance tax is deducted on the value of your estate above the inheritance tax threshold.
If you are considering leaving a gift in your will to the Society, there are five types of gift you can make.
Residuary bequest (a share or percentage of your estate)
This enables you to leave a proportion or all of the residue of your estate, i.e. a proportion of what is left after all your commitments, taxes and gifts have been paid.
Pecuniary bequest (a cash sum)
This is a specific sum of money to be given. If you wish to leave this form of gift then please consider index-linking the gift to inflation to avoid its value being eroded over time.
Specific bequest (an item)
This enables you to leave a gift of particular assets or goods. This may include assets such as land, property or stocks and shares rather than a monetary sum.
Reversionary bequest
This is a gift of assets to a chosen beneficiary that takes account of the rights of a named person or persons to receive the benefit of those assets during his or her lifetime. For example, this could allow you to leave your residuary estate to the Society, but on condition that a spouse or friend could continue to receive the income of that estate (or continue to live in your house) until he or she died. The assets would then pass to the Society on the death of that person.
Conditional bequest
This is a gift which would name the Society as a beneficiary should any or all of your other named beneficiaries die before you.
Your will is one of the most important documents you will make so we recommend you seek the advice of a solicitor during its creation.
We are grateful for any legacy gift, large or small.
For an informal and confidential discussion about how to support the Society through a legacy gift please contact us on +44 (0)20 7591 3017 or development@rgs.org