Your Estate Planning Will Make a Province-Wide Difference Today

Hilary Beard

Legacy gifts power the possible. With community members across BC leading the future with their values-based decisions, our children and grandchildren have more of a chance to fulfill their hopes and dreams.

BC Children’s Hospital Foundation receives legacy gifts from all corners of the province. We appreciate how our communities, through legacy gifts, recognize the vital medical treatment that their neighbourhood kids have received and how those children’s lives were saved or significantly improved.

Just think of how childhood cancer survival rates have changed in the last 50 years from 20 to 80 per cent. Significant strides in addressing childhood disease take place because thoughtful donors create their legacy gift by thinking ahead. We don’t rest on our laurels. The 20 per cent of children not surviving cancer are the propelling force for our researchers because every single child lost to the disease is one too many.

Children are 100 per cent our future. BC Children’s Hospital is the sole pediatric hospital in our province; all children with complex care needs are treated at BC Children’s.

In 2021 more than 138,000 kids from all across BC received expert care. Personalized medicine means each child receives treatment tailored to their medical situation. That often encompasses a unique collaboration between our physicians and researchers, what we call “bench to bedside,” where research in the lab can provide clues to a novel medicine that specifically targets the child’s illness.

Our site is home to a research institute, acute care hospital, and mental health and rehabilitation centres, so each child benefits from a seamless care experience.

BC’s kids don’t go it alone, nor does our community of donors, fortunately. Notaries across our province understand the power of legacy and how the smallest community-members have the potential to be as mighty as adults.

Smithers exemplifies a community where our Notary friends have provided exceptional guidance to ensure that a loving legacy of care became reality. A leading Notary provided seamless services to ensure that donor intent was expressed accurately within a Will. Communities benefit from friendly conversations where thoughtful dreams are birthed in the accuracy of Will clauses.

A well-known Notary in Victoria not only assisted donors with their Will language, she took a further step to create her own future legacy to help tomorrow’s children. I could mention Chilliwack, Surrey, Kitsilano, and many more locations where BC Notaries help create a healthier future.

Our Foundation’s Legacy Team is available for in-depth conversations around areas the donor may wish to support. Our donors have told us that those conversations are vital starting points as they explore ideas, consider some pitfalls, and simply need an unbiased listening ear before heading to their BC Notary.

Based on insights from estate administration, here are my top three tips for any future legacy donor. 1. Engage the services of legal professionals who have a track record of estate planning to give you advice on various options that take care of your family and navigate any difficult circumstances you may foresee for the future. 2. Look at your current or anticipated wealth and think about the joy you could experience today, by giving to make a difference. 3. Activate tax benefits now. Our greatest joy is to thank donors. It is best summed up in the words of our Legacy Circle member who wrote after our recent Appreciation Tea, “I could feel and hear—in the voices of the care team—the love they have for each child. It was absolutely heart-warming—tears came to my eyes.”s Hilary Beard is the Director of Gift & Estate Planning at BC Children’s Hospital Foundation.