During Free Wills Month, Russell Marriott, our Director of Income Generation and Development, shares how leaving a gift in your Will can transform the future of brain tumour research.
A gift in your Will is a wonderful way to provide certainty for our work into the future. At Brain Tumour Research, we’re thankful to those supporters who pledge to support us in this way.
Why are gifts in Wills so important?
In 2022 almost 16% of Wills processed included a gift to charity and conservative estimates predict that the final legacy income figure for 2022 will sit at around £3.5 billion.
Many charities rely heavily on gifts in Wills to support their work. Cancer Research UK reported a legacy income of £206m for the financial year ending March 2022, representing 30% of the charity’s total income.
Legacies accounted for just 3% of our overall income in the year to June 2022.
With one in three people knowing someone affected by this devastating disease and with brain tumours continuing to kill more children and adults under the age of 40 than any other cancer, the need for sustained funding of our research is more important now than ever.
Your Will is an important way of looking after the future of your family and friends after you are gone. And once you have thought of those closest to you, leaving a gift to Brain Tumour Research is a wonderful way to ensure we can continue our vital work towards finding a cure for all types of brain tumours.
What difference could your gift make?
A gift in your Will could offer hope to the families of the thousands of people in the UK diagnosed with this devastating disease every year. Your generosity could make a real difference to our cause in years to come.
Your legacy could play a pivotal role in helping us increase the national investment in brain tumour research at each of our Centres of Excellence where each day of research costs £2,740. We aim to support our Centres with £1 million a year, through our own funds, how we leverage those funds and how we raise awareness so that other organisations fund brain tumour research.
Your legacy could help us continue and progress the vital work at our dedicated Research Centres where scientists are working tirelessly to improve treatment and, ultimately, find a cure. It could help to fund a lifesaving research breakthrough which would result in better treatments which are so desperately needed for brain tumour patients and their loved ones.
Your legacy could support our campaigning to increase the national investment in brain tumour research, helping us to shine a spotlight on the historic lack of funding and influence UK governments and larger cancer charities to invest more. Charities cannot do it alone and your legacy can support us as we continue to lobby for parity of funding with other cancers to ensure better outcomes for brain tumour patients in the future.
What’s more, a gift in your Will can benefit your loved ones too. If you leave 10% or more of your state to charity in your Will, you can benefit from a reduced rate of inheritance tax of 36%, rather than the standard rate of 40%. Depending on the size of your estate, this could represent a significant saving on inheritance tax, which could make a huge difference to your family, loved ones and any charities you have named in your Will.
How can you leave a gift in your Will?
We’ve compiled some information about leaving a gift on our website – just click here to read more.
Making a Will can be daunting so, to make it easier for you, we have teamed up with the National Free Wills Network, meaning we are able to offer you the opportunity to have a simple Will written or updated free of charge. To find out more and enquire, click here.
If you are leaving a gift in your Will to Brain Tumour Research, or considering doing so, we would like to thank you so much for your kind support. Please email us on legacy@braintumourresearch.org to let us know or to discuss any questions you may have.
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