Submitted by Kevin Walsh
The Canadian Association of Gift Planners launched its new, “Will Power” campaign across Canada on September 1. Nearly 500 charities and professional advisors have come together to sponsor this important project and our GBHS hospital foundations are proud to be among them. You may have heard some of the public service announcements for Will Power on local radio.
The main objective of Will Power is to give people a new way of thinking about donating to charity. Your Will is much more than a legal document to distribute your personal assets. It can also be a powerful tool you use to make change in the world.
Currently, only about 5% of Canadians have included a charitable gift in their Will. The goal of the campaign is to increase this to 8.5% by the year 2030. Right now, there are more than 20 countries around the world with similar campaigns aimed at inspiring people to leave gifts in Wills to charity.
Research conducted by CAGP recently showed that most Canadians are aware they can leave a charitable gift in a Will, but more than 60% of us choose not to because we believe it would take away from our support of loved ones.
Even 1% left to charity in your Will can have a tremendous impact on a favourite cause, while still leaving 99% of your Estate to your family. You don’t have to choose between your loved ones and the causes you care about when planning your Will.
Gifting a portion of your Estate to a charity also provides tax relief for your Estate. We all want to plan our Will to avoid taxes eating up hard-earned money intended for our family. You may choose to leave a percentage of your Estate or a specific amount.
You may have a small insurance policy that seems like the right amount of money that you would like to leave to charity. This is the case for my wife Sandra and I. We each have a small insurance policy and these got us thinking about how we could leave a gift in our Wills for our local hospital. I am on the Bruce Peninsula Hospitals Foundation board and always encourage people to donate to our hospitals. Your donation can be specified for the Lion’s Head or Wiarton Hospital or leave it to the discretion of the Foundation and your donation will support the most urgent needs.
As I have said before, while government provides funding to operate our hospitals, very little is provided for equipment and facility upgrades. This leaves the majority of equipment funding coming from generous donations from the public. Your donations keep equipment and facilities up-to-date allowing our physicians, nurses and technical staff to provide the outstanding care they do.
We are fortunate to live on the Bruce Peninsula. Your generosity never ceases to amaze me! We have great healthcare close to home due to the generosity and kindness of local businesses, local people and our seasonal cottagers who call the Bruce their home away from home. Thank you to each and every one of our donors!
I hope you consider healthcare as your charity of choice and leave a gift in your Will. Visit www.willpower.ca. The campaign website has a gift calculator and other resources to help plan your gift and connect you with local professional advisors to put your plans into place.
I Will – Will you?
If we can answer any questions please feel free to reach out.
• Kevin Walsh, Bruce Peninsula Hospitals Foundation Chair: 519-270-3637
• April Patry, Executive Director Bruce Peninsula Hospitals Foundation: 519-534-5856
• Willard VanderPloeg, Charitable Giving Advisor: GBHS Foundations: 519-270-9177
