Support the Society with a gift in your Will
Why leaving a gift in your Will to the Society will support the next generation of endocrinologists.
A legacy gift is a powerful way to leave a lasting impact on the future of endocrinology. Your contribution will provide critical support to the next generation of researchers, clinicians and nurses in our field, ensuring they have the resources needed to thrive in their careers.
In 1986, Marjorie Robinson left a gift in her Will to the Society for Endocrinology. That gift of £100,000 (equivalent to over £367,000 in 2024) has already enabled over 50 members to develop their careers and further the specialty of endocrinology through research grants.
Majorie Robinson's legacy
In 2022, Phyllis Horne Menzies left the Society a £62k bequest in her Will. This allowed the Society to support 100 early career members with travel grants, enabling them to attend training and events in the UK and abroad.
The work of endocrinologists today is more diverse and more challenging than ever before.
As such, the role of the Society is more important than ever before in supporting research, training and communication. Central to all our aims is finding the most effective ways to connect our members to learn from and support each other, to improve their professional practice and ultimately improve patient outcomes.
Your gift will enable us to do more of this work to support our community into the future and tackle current and future health challenges in endocrinology.
Your legacy, your choice
You can choose to leave a gift to the Society in your Will in a number of different ways.
- You can opt to leave a specific amount alongside those to family and friends. This is called a pecuniary request.
- You can choose to leave items to a charity, rather than a sum of money, which is called a specific bequest. This could be an item(s) of value, or item(s) that you know are of importance to endocrinology or the Society.
- Finally, you can choose to leave a residuary bequest. This is the remainder of your estate once all of your specific and pecuniary bequests have been made to your family or other dependents and all costs and charges are dispersed. This reminder can be left to one charity or split equally within a number of different organisations.
With all options, you can decide whether you want to benefit a certain part of the charity’s work or allow the charity to decide where best to use it to benefit its members. A specific part of the work will mean that the charity can only spend it in this area unless the trustees decide differently at a future time if the original purpose is no longer needed. General funds allow the charity to adapt where funds are spent in the future as the needs of the members change as the specialty develops.
Example wording for your Will:
I give to Society for Endocrinology of Starling House, 1600 Bristol Parkway North, Bristol, BS34 8YU, Charity Registration Number: 266813 [proportion of residue] for its general purposes and I direct that the receipt of the Treasurer or other duly authorised officer shall be a sufficient discharge to my Executors.
I give to the Society for Endocrinology of Starling House, 1600 Bristol Parkway North, Bristol, BS34 8YU, Charity Registration Number: 266813 the sum of £_____ [amount in words] for its general purposes and I direct that the receipt of the Treasurer or other duly authorised officer shall be a sufficient discharge to my Executors.
I give to the Society for Endocrinology of Starling House, 1600 Bristol Parkway North, Bristol, BS34 8YU, Charity Registration Number: 266813 [description of item(s)] absolutely for its general purposes and I direct that the receipt of the Treasurer or other duly authorised officer shall be a sufficient discharge to my Executors.
Tax benefits
There are also tax benefits to leaving a gift in your Will to a charity as it can lower the level of inheritance tax (IHT) that is paid on an estate. Currently all legacies to charities usually attract full IHT exemption. Therefore, the inclusion of charitable gifts in a Will can substantially reduce the IHT burden on an estate either to zero, or at a reduced rate.
The current threshold for Inheritance Tax is £325,000 and so everything above that is taxed at 40%. As an example if your estate is worth £500,000 and your tax-free threshold is £325,000. The inheritance tax charged will be 40% of £175,000 (£500,000 minus £325,000).
If you were to leave everything above £325,000 to charity the tax bill on your estate would be £0. The estate can also pay inheritance tax at a reduced rate of 36% on some assets if you leave 10% or more of the ‘net value’ to charity in your will. (The net value is the estate’s total value minus any debts.)*
FAQs
If you are happy for the Society to use your gift for general purposes, it can be used in a number of different ways to support members, including grants and awards, development of new activities based on member needs and other benefits.
If you specify a particular area of the Society’s work then it will only be used for that purpose. If the Society stops doing that work in the future the trustees will need to decide how best to use it instead, but this will always be to support endocrinologists in their careers.
It is entirely up to you how much you leave. We award grants of varying levels depending on how they support the individual member. Any amount that you decide to leave as a gift in your Will, will be used to support the next generation of endocrinologists.
If you want to amend your Will to solely add in the Society for Endocrinology you may not need to write a new Will, instead you can use a simple form called a codicil. We would always recommend that you contact a solicitor, to ensure that any codicil is valid.
However, it is important to ensure your Will is up to date if there have been changes since you last wrote it. For example, you may need to change your Will to reflect changes in your family, additional grandchildren for instance, divorce or the death of a beneficiary.
We would always recommend that you talk to a reputable solicitor when you are making or changing your Will.
They will help you ensure that any wording is correct so that your Will is valid and your wishes will be followed just as you wanted.
You should always look to ensure your personal bequests are considered first so that you know that your loved ones will be looked after. If you want to leave a bequest to a charity alongside your family and friends, you can do this by specifying a set amount, or leave the remainder of your estate to a charity once all your specific bequests have been made.
If you change your mind all you need to do is consult a solicitor and update your Will. There is no obligation to the Society to retain the bequest, even if you have made us aware that the charity has been included at one point.
Whilst there is no need to let the Society know that you have written it into your Will, being aware that there is a legacy in the future will help the Society to plan better. It will also mean that we can thank you for your gift and ensure that you receive information about the work of the charity and how your gift will help in the future.
* gov.uk/inheritance-tax, July 2024
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