Create a legacy
If you have been touched in some way by the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, or would like to ensure that Sick Kids benefit from your generosity, why not consider leaving a legacy to the Sick Kids Friends Foundation in your will?
Help Sick Kids into the Future
It will take you only a short time to arrange. But you could be making a huge difference to the health and wellbeing of Sick Kids in the future. Such a legacy will go towards:
- making vital facilities to make families comfortable in hospital
- providing lots of extra comforts to soothe children
- buying the best medical equipment to give children the best care
- providing an extra dimension of care out in the community
- helping to fund research into childhood illnesses and improving the outlook of those who may suffer from them in the future
We'd love to show you how previous gifts have been put to use and discuss how legacies might be used in the future. And since we won't be able to thank you at the time of your gift, we'd like to be able to do it now.
If you want someone to contact you about leaving a legacy, please e-mail our director, Maureen Harrison maureen.harrison@luht.scot.nhs.uk, or call on 0131 668 4949.
Why we need your money
Health is precious. Good health can also be costly. And there's probably never enough money to cover every expectation. That's where the Sick Kids Friends Foundation can really play a part. Although the NHS in Scotland provides mainstream funding for the hospital, there will always be a need for that little bit extra, either for our patients, their families or our own staff.
Your legacy can help make sick children and their families' future even better.
How you can help
Although people often support charities in all sorts of ways during their lifetime, many feel able to give substantially more as a legacy. You can help us too by leaving the Sick Kids Friends Foundation a legacy in a number of ways; for example as general funds to be applied at the discretion of the Foundation, or alternatively you can direct it towards one of our five priorities:
- extra comforts and services that will make a child's stay in hospital better
- the development of improved facilities for children and their families
- the provision of extra medical equipment
- providing extra services for sick children in the community and their families
- training and research
Making a will
A will can be made at any time during your lifetime. Although it's possible to write your own, we recommend that you contact a solicitor who will be able to provide the appropriate professional advice and draw up a Will tailored to relfect your particular circumstances. The document drawn up on your behalf will be legally binding and is your way of making sure that everything will be distributed as you want it to be. Should you change your mind at a later date you can either make a new Will or add a Codicil, the latter being a document amending your existing Will.
If you do not have your own solicitor then ask your friends or colleagues to recommend someone, or contact the Law Society for further information.
Leaving a legacy to charity
Gifts to charity on death are exempt from Inheritance Tax (the tax payable on a deceased person's estate) so this is a very tax-efficient way of providing long term benefit to a charity.
A legacy can either comprise a specified sum or item from your estate, or you can leave all or a part of the residue of your estate. This means that the charity receives the remainder of your estate once any debts, expenses, specific legacies and gifts have been cleared. Your solicitor or independent financial adviser can discuss the various alternatives with you and the associated tax benefits.
While we urge you to take care of your family first, we hope you will also be in a position to think of the Sick Kids Friends Foundation, as every legacy, however big or small, can help fund something very important.
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