Leave a gift in your will

Please consider leaving a gift for the RNC in your Will, after looking after your loved ones. You’ll be supporting young people who are blind or partially sighted well into the future.

We live in challenging financial times and RNC is providing its services on ever tighter budgets. All our students are coping with varying degrees of visual impairment and a significant number have additional disabilities. Coming to RNC opens up a whole world of possibilities to them and your legacy will help continue that great work.

The term ‘legacy’ can mean money, property or valuables left in a Will for a certain purpose or to a particular cause, such as a charity. The main consideration is whether you wish to leave a pecuniary amount ie a fixed sum or a residuary amount which can be given in entirety or shared between chosen charities, after taking care of loved ones. This is often in the form of a percentage to be given out of the ’residual’ estate, either to one or shared among several favoured charities. Leaving charitable gifts in Wills can also reduce your Inheritance Tax (IHT) liability so speak to your solicitor about this.

Many believe only wealthy people can afford to leave a legacy in their Will but legacies of all sizes continue to play an essential part in supporting the day-to-day functioning of our specialist College. In 2020-21 alone, we received several significant gifts which greatly helped the charity during the pandemic which required a serious amount of funds to be diverted from our limited resources. Unrestricted gifts of this nature are, therefore, vital and we are grateful to anyone that chooses to remember us in their Will.

We are extremely grateful to all our legacy givers over the years and those in the last 20 years are gratefully acknowledged below.

Will Writing Month

If you haven’t written a Will or need to update an existing one, you may be interested in Will Writing Month. For a four-week period you can book an appointment with one of our local participating solicitors in return for a suggested donation. A legal professional will help you put together a basic single Will or basic ‘mirror’ Wills for couples.

Instinctively, we all know that making a Will is the right thing to do. But how many of us actually get round to writing one? There are serious implications - financial, emotional and legal - for those of us who pass away without expressing our wishes clearly in a legally binding Will. Making preparations in your lifetime about what should happen to your possessions or assets after you die may save your loved ones difficulties and cost in the future. Younger people, as well as those of more advanced years, have an opportunity to avoid ambiguity about the beneficiaries of their estate by making a Will.

In recent years, RNC has worked in partnership with local solicitors who have very kindly waived their fees during the month, in exchange for a donation to RNC. As a rough guide, the past suggested donation has been £150 for a basic single Will and £250 for basic mirror Wills.

The money raised from donations is used to give students at RNC the chance to live independently, the opportunity to retrain for work, or to gain the qualifications necessary to move on to higher education.

To find out when our next Wills Month is, call 01432 376 372 or email: fund@rnc.ac.uk