Are you leaving money to charity in your will?

[TheRebel]

I work for a solicitor so I see a fair few wills as part of my job, and the majority of the charities that people leave gifts to are animal charities and churches, I don’t think I’ve ever seen money being left to children’s charities or charities that help vulnerable people.

I just wondered if it’s just to do with the local area we’re in or is this the norm?

Yes. I have left my entire estate to the charity I volunteer for.

@Oysterbabe Of course you should ignore their wishes in that situation.

With my current state of affairs I'd be leaving debt behind. I'm working hard to fix that as quickly as possible, if I do manage to build up any assets and/or savings before I die they will go to making my children's lives easier.

@Oysterbabe I’ve only seen a clause like that once, I think it was a letter of wishes rather than within the will itself but I can’t imagine anyone would take you to court over it if you didn’t comply!

Why is it such an issue that that average charity spends 90% of its money on staff and running costs?

I work for a charity and the services we offer are our time not 'stuff' so of course we have running costs.

As for leaving money to charity I am not planning to but if I did it would be a set figure not a percentage and it would be a smaller charity.

I would never give money to a charity like Cancer Research as they have billions. And they test on animals.

CactusFred. That's a point. Most of our charity's (animal rescue/neuter organisation) money is spent on staff come to think of it. Mainly vets, also vet nurses, animal care staff, rescue workers, receptionists etc. Very little though is spent on any kind of management, and maybe we suffer as a consequence. I suppose the only 'stuff' we spend on is cat food, medical equipment and drugs, and of course premises costs.

CactusFred I also agree about Cancer Research.

I have absolutely no issues with charities spending money on wages. After all I would rather they paid more for the right staff to get better outcomes. I think my will does specify the charity number rather than the name in case they rebrand.

I strongly suggest those doing this puts a specific amount in their will, rather than a percentage if you have any family.

They way they hound people who have just lost loved ones can be awful. And while I understand they want to maximize their money - they can insist property is sold straight away when someone is still grieving.

Where as if it's a specific amount this can be paid out without impacting the other beneficiaries.

I honestly don't think most realise how ruthless some can be.

Off topic but I stopped giving to Cancer Research by direct debit after they wrote ADVISING me that they had INCREASED the amount.

Disgusting behaviour. Beyond rude.

I've heard (from a solicitor) that the RSPCA has gained a reputation for being quite ruthless with wills.

Any others specific charities?

This charity does not test on animals:

www.facebook.com/AnimalFreeResearchUK/

www.animalfreeresearchuk.org/ non-Fb link

No. What I leave will be for my DC to help them

Those leaving money for cats and dogs = condemning countless other animals to death because of the food made to feed them - slaughter of billions of chickens, fish, cows, sheep, pigs. It's not an animal-friendly solution. If you want to save more animals, I'd recommend www.vegansociety.com/.

Avocados, lol, LOVE your username! Hahaha!

@JPTB I'd be a bit hypocritical to be bothered about animals killed to feed dogs and cats when I eat those animals myself.

I don't have any children so it will all go to my siblings.

If I live to a good age, the chances are that I'll have a fair bit of money and I hope my younger siblings get a good few years with my money and after them I hope their children benefit from it.

I'm actually quite pleased at the prospect of being able to give them a life changing amount one day.

@JPTB How ridiculous. All cat and dog charities aim to reduce the number of cats and dogs in existence. But while the neutering message continues to go unheard, and they keep being born, it's of course the most 'animal friendly' thing to do to look after them, while of course ensuring that non of them will reproduce.

It's not the most animal friendly thing to do - saving one cat = DOZENS of other animals condemned to death in order to feed said one cat. Sadly most people value certain species over others.

An episode of QI (that's as far as my research goes!) showed that having a dog made a greater impact on the environment in terms of feeding it meat than having two cars per family or even another child.

I do get your logic Rhapsody

Saving one cat or dog will mean killing countless other animals in order to feed it. Having said that I do have a cat so I'm hardly one to preach

Polly2345 I don’t think you have understood what that person meant.
The big charities such as Macmillan and cancer research amongst others have CEO’s on more money than the prime minister whilst its volunteers and supporters like you said may get 0 due to being a volunteer. Look on their pages to see where there money goes. It’s quite an eye opener.

I completely agree with MRSella. I won’t be leaving them any money either especially as a lot of the big charities receive massive amounts of government money (aka taxpayers).
On the other hand, charities with very little support I do give to such as local hospices or small charities that are trying to make a difference then yes I will donate to as the volunteers and services really very heavily on donations. However will I donate in a will? No I won’t because of the massive problems that it can cause to the family or friends.
My aunt was left a house and the other half was left to charity. That was 12 months ago. The house still has not been sold as the said charity will not allow for the house to sold a penny below what the asking price is.

Probably worth noting that Rhapsody Queen has outed herself as being a very committed dog hater on another thread...

Having worked for both large and small charities, there isn't a chance in hell I'd take into account whether they pay a CEO a lot or not. I worked in a small charity where the CEO equivalent got paid nothing at all, and he definitely cost us more than we'd have had to pay out to get someone competent. The value of grants not applied for because of incompetence and recruitment costs when replacing staff he drove away was well over the market rate for the role.

Also, the PMs package is much better than charity CEOs receive. They are also getting free accommodation with parking both in Central London and in a large country pile. That effectively places the value of the package well over a million. You'd need to add at least one zero to the PM salary if you wanted that kind of housing and had to pay for it privately! I don't think there are any charity CEOs on that money in the UK at all.

Annandale I'm horrified and made really sad by this. I'm a fundraiser although not a legacy fundraiser and I've never known any of them behave like this. It's disgusting and I'm not surprised that being treated badly at a time when you're most emotionally vulnerable puts people off. It doesn't change my mind though, I'd really like to think that those experiences are the exception not the norm.

There is, as a pp said, a lethal obligation on a charity to maximize the value of a donation but there is also an ethical oblication to treat everyone with respect, compassion and kindness. Everyone I know who works for a charity does it because they believe in the charitable purpose of that organisation. Most of us would earn a lot more working somewhere else, we choose to work for something that we believe pays back to society in some way. I'd hope that people making those choices in their personal lives would roll out decent values into their professional lives. Clearly some don't and that's a poor reflection on them and their employer.