Legacies – securing the future of rescuing and rehoming bulldogs
The Bulldog Rescue & Rehoming Trust helps about 200 bulldogs every year − that’s one every two days. At any one time we have about 80 bulldogs in our system.
The reason why these wonderful friends will always need our help is due to modern life. Bulldogs are generally rehomed owing to their owners’ altered circumstances.
One of the easiest ways to help secure the Trust’s future is to include a legacy in your Will. Most charities receive about a third of their income from legacies.
Everyone should have an up to date Will. A Will means you can determine what happens to your money, property and belongings. It gives you peace of mind – and it also saves your close family unnecessary anxiety at an unavoidably distressing time.
A legacy costs you nothing now. Indeed, it’s an opportunity to make a significant gift which you might not be able to consider during your lifetime − a wonderful legacy to be remembered by.
Writing your Will is easy - Find out the Benefits from the HMRC web site
The Trust advises you to have your Will written by a solicitor. It’s easy to find one if you have access to the Internet − just go to http://solicitors.lawsociety.org.uk and enter your location, and a list of solicitors nearest to you will appear. If you want to be sure to choose a solicitor who writes Wills on a regular basis, you can use the Areas of service button and choose Private client - wills and probate.
If you have a solicitor already and would like them to write your Will, just make an appointment.
It might be useful to take a completed Will Planner with you.
What do I have to think about?
One of the main reasons people don’t get round to writing their Will is that they worry that it’s complicated. Our Will Planner helps you to consider all the key questions. The solicitor’s job is to turn your wishes into the appropriate legal language.
Without an up to date Will, the government’s intestacy laws decide what happens to your money and property – sometimes with outcomes you won’t have expected. Having a Will avoids that.
What kind of gift can I make?
There are three main types of legacy that people leave:
A cash sum (known as a pecuniary legacy) – for example £500 or £5000;
A share of your estate (known as a residuary legacy) which means that, having made all your other gifts to family and friends, you leave the rest to your favourite cause;
A specific legacy – it could be jewellery, a stamp collection, art or property.
A share of your estate is an easy way to benefit the Trust. It means you don’t have to decide exactly how much you want to leave. Instead, you state all the other gifts you want to leave to family and friends and then leave a percentage of what remains (the residue) to the Trust. The solicitor will discuss the options with you.
How does making a Will and leaving a legacy help?
The Trust relies on a network of dedicated volunteers who home-check and collect bulldogs for rehoming and fostering, supported by a small central staff. This lean but efficient arrangement enables us to do everything on a budget of less than £90,000 a year. Veterinary fees comprise a third of that.
The Trust will be able to use your gift to continue its work way into the future. You might want to earmark your legacy for a specific project, but it’s probably best if you can leave the trustees of the charity to decide its best use when the time comes.
A guide to how we spend our money:
£600 would feed a bulldog for a year
£1500 would heat 10 kennels over winter or have 10 fostered bulldogs checked by a vet
£2000 would meet our veterinary fees for a whole month.
A legacy is a fantastic way to support the work of the Bulldog Rescue & Rehoming Trust. Please consider a legacy in your Will − and, so we can acknowledge your wonderful gesture, please let us know.
If you are considering including a legacy to the Trust in your Will and would like more information on our work, please Contact Us.
On behalf of the bulldogs, THANK YOU.