Gift in a Will

Many people want their generosity to extend beyond their lifetime and a gift to charity in their will is a common strategy to create this type of legacy.

A gift to charity in a will is commonly referred to as a charitable bequest, and can be a specific dollar amount, a specific asset, a percentage of the estate, or the residual amount of the estate.

With our donor advised business model, Abundance Canada is well situated to facilitate bequests for your clients as part of their overall Generosity Plan®.

Why use Abundance Canada to facilitate a bequest?

• We simplify the process for the executor, or estate administrator.
  • One charity named in the will means fewer cheques to issue and fewer donation receipts to track
  • No need to report estate details to multiple charities
• A donor-advised Generosity Plan at Abundance Canada allows the single bequest to benefit multiple charities
  • No need to include each charity in the will
• Client does not need to revise their will if they want to change the charities they wish to support with their bequest
  • Client contacts Abundance Canada to update their Generosity Plan disbursement recommendations
• Abundance Canada issues the donation receipt to the estate for the bequest
  • If a charity on the client’s disbursement recommendation list ceases to exist, the bequest is still valid
  • If that charity had been named in the will that portion of the bequest would fail

How the Abundance Canada process works

1. Your client meets with a member of our team to discuss how a bequest fits into their overall Generosity Plan.
2. Abundance Canada is named as the beneficiary of the charitable gift in the will. As noted above, this removes the complexity of naming one or more charities in the will.
3. Client completes a disbursement recommendation form indicating:
   1. Which charities should benefit from the bequest.
   2. How much support each charity should receive.
   3. Over what time period they should receive that support.
   4. Whether the gift to the recommended charity should be made anonymously.
4. Client can update or revise their Abundance Canada disbursement recommendations without having to update their will.

Our Fee Model Policy is available at https://abundance.ca/about/legal/

Next Steps

Contact Abundance Canada if you have clients who might benefit from our charitable bequest services.