Legacy giving
Leaving a gift in your will, whether large or small, is a valuable way of supporting our future work. You can download a document with further information about the different ways in which your legacy can make a difference. (download this page as a pdf)
There are several standard types of legacy which include:
A Pecuniary Legacy, which allows you to give a specific sum of money.
A Residuary Legacy, which involves leaving all or part of the residue of your estate after pecuniary legacies and other liabilities have been met.
A Reversionary Legacy involves leaving your assets to trustees so that family members or other beneficiaries can enjoy the income during their lifetimes, with all or a portion going to Wesley House on their deaths.
A Conditional Legacy provides for the eventuality that if none of your dependents survives you, your estate will go to one or more named beneficiaries, including Wesley House.
A Specific or Non-Money Legacy allows you to leave a specific possession to Wesley House.
A bequest to Wesley House may take the form of money, stocks and shares, property or other gifts in kind.
What to give to
Because we do not know now what our immediate needs will be when a legacy materialises, the most beneficial way you could help the College is through a gift either “for the general purposes of Wesley House” or “for the Wesley House Bursary Fund”.
Giving for the “general purposes” would enable the Trustees to direct use of the legacy for any area of the College’s work without restriction. However, please do speak to us should you wish your gift to be directed to a specific purpose, such as the library or supporting teaching posts, and we can discuss appropriate wording.
How to give
Your existing Will can be amended by adding a codicil. Alternatively, the legacy can be included in any revision of your Will that may become necessary from time to time with a change in your personal circumstances (such as marriage). In either case we recommend that you avoid any potential problems for your executors and beneficiaries by obtaining the help of professional lawyers.
A typical form of wording for a Will or Codicil might be:
I give to the Trustees of Wesley House, Cambridge the residue / [a proportion] of the residue of my estate / the sum of £[amount] free of tax for the general purposes of the College and I declare that the receipt of a Trustee shall be a good and sufficient discharge to my Executors.
informing us
We recognise that legacy giving is a deeply personal matter and we would appreciate guidance from you on how you would like to be recognized. It is helpful, but by no means essential, for us to know about those who currently intend to remember Wesley House in their wills and we will be thankful if you are able to share details that we can either use privately for internal purposes or more publicly as a way of thanking you in your lifetime and encouraging others to follow your example.
Please do not hesitate to contact us if you would like to discuss legacy giving. You can speak to me (chair@wesley.cam.ac.uk) or another Trustee or The Principal, Jane Leach (jl332@cam.ac.uk) or Alastair Oatey, the Business Director (aio22@cam.ac.uk).
Stuart Jordan
Chair of Trustees