THEME
Natasha van Bentum
Change the World and Still Support Your Loved Ones
B
ack in 1993, Diana Newman and her colleagues sat around a table wondering why so few people left charitable gifts in their estate plans. “I imagine they never even thought about doing it,” Newman said.
They had no idea their casual conversation would plant a seed that has borne fruit around the world. That simple conversation led to thinking about a community-wide effort to encourage everyone to consider charitable organizations in their estate plans. “We quickly recruited a core team of community leaders—nonprofit staff, corporate sponsors, and allied professionals—to design and implement a public awareness campaign we named Leave a Legacy.”
20
TABLE OF CONTENTS
©iStockphoto.com/Tom Merton
The prospect of an unprecedented transfer of wealth over the next decades and the fact so few individuals left a charitable bequest in their Wills were the compelling reasons to start a legacy-awareness campaign run by volunteers. The Canadian Association of Gift Planners (CAGP), the leading professional association for gift planners and advisors, works “to create a better world through strategic charitable giving.”
…while up to 86 per cent of Canadians are aware they can leave a charitable gift in a Will, more than 60 per cent immediately reject doing so because they believe it will take away from their support of loved ones. BC Notaries Association
Recent research conducted for the CAGP Foundation by Environics Canada showed while up to 86 per cent of Canadians are aware they can leave a charitable gift in a Will, more than 60 per cent immediately reject doing so because they believe it will take away from their support of loved ones. Leave a Legacy evolves into a new, national campaign: WILL POWER, under the umbrella of the Canadian Association of Gift Planners. “Five per cent of Canadians leave a gift to charity in their Wills,” says Ruth MacKenzie, CEO of CAGP and Executive Director of the CAGP Foundation. “With the upcoming rollout of the Will Power campaign, we intend to increase that number by making it clear to Canadians that leaving a charitable gift in your Will is not an either-or proposition. You can make a big difference to the causes you care about, while still taking care of the people that you love the most.” Volume 29 Number 3 Fall 2020
