Gift Planning
A Bequest to Further Good Work
Nancy and David were dedicated volunteers. Over the years, they had seen many individuals helped by the good work of their favorite charity. They wanted to create a legacy to provide future resources to continue its mission.
Dave: The work of our favorite charity was important to us and we provided support with current gifts, but wanted to do more. We received their newsletter and noted that we could make a gift from our estate and join the legacy society. We saw a picture of smiling people just like us and we wanted to be part of that group.
Nancy: We met with our lawyer to revise our wills and we each included a provision for a bequest. Our lawyer put language in the will that allows a percentage of our estate to go to our favorite charity. This was easy to arrange and permits us to still use our assets during our lives if we need them.
We told their gift planner about our decision and were excited when we were invited to a special event honoring us. We will continue to make gifts during our lives, but it feels good to know that our support will help in the future.
You also may want to make it easy and convenient to have a bequest included in your will. The language below shows how a bequest can very easily be included in your will.
You might find it helpful to select the "print" button below and print this page. Please feel free to give this information to your attorney. If he or she has any questions, please contact us.
*Please note: The name and image above is representative of a typical donor and may or may not be an actual donor to our organization. Since your benefits may be different, you may want to click here to view a color example of your benefits.
General Bequest for a Specific Location:
"I give to The Salvation Army, an Illinois non-profit corporation, in (City), (State), the sum of ____dollars ($____), or ____% of my estate, to be used in such manner as its Board of Trustees determine advisable for the benefit of The Salvation Army".
Residuary Bequest:
"I give to The Salvation Army, an Illinois non-profit corporation, ____% of my residuary estate, after satisfaction of all other specific bequests, to be used for work in (City), (State) Corps, or in such manner as its Board of Trustees determines if the (City), (State) Corps no longer exists".
Contingent Bequest:
"If (insert name) is not living on the ninetieth day after the day of my death, I give all the rest of the property I own at my death to The Salvation Army, an Illinois non-profit corporation, in (City), (State), or in such manner as its Board of Trustees determines if the (City), (State) Corps no longer exists".
Restricted to Specific Program:
"I give to The Salvation Army, an Illinois non-profit corporation, in (City), (State), the sum of ____dollars ($_____), or _____% of my residuary estate, (and/or if property is given, describe same), for the specific purpose of _____ (Please contact our Planned Giving office for the wording to designate a specific program) or in such manner as its Board of Trustees determines if the program (City), (State) Corps no longer exists".
Restricted to Program & Location:
"I give to The Salvation Army, an Illinois non-profit corporation, in (City), (State), the sum of _____dollars ($_____), or ____% of my estate, (and/or if property is given, describe same), for the specific purpose of _____ ( Please contact our Planned Giving office for the wording to designate a specific program) and to be used by the said organization in (City), (State), or in such manner as its Board of Trustees determines if the program in (City), (State) Corps no longer exists".
Perpetual Fund (Endowment)
"I give to The Salvation Army, an Illinois non-profit corporation, the sum of ____dollars ($_____), or ____% of my estate, to be known as The ____ Fund (Endowment). The Fund may be invested by its Board of Trustees as it deems advisable, either separately or commingled for investment purposes with other funds administered by the Board, the net earned income to be used for work in (City), (State) Corps, or in such manner as its Board of Trustees determines if the (City), (State) Corps no longer exists".
If you already have a Will and wish to include a bequest to The Salvation Army without having your Will rewritten, you may use the following suggested form of Codicil.
Codicil:
"I ____, a resident of ____, do make, publish and declare this to be a Codicil to the Last Will and Testament executed by me on ____. I do hereby modify and amend my Last Will and Testament in the following manner:
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I sign this instrument as a Codicil to my Last Will and Testament in the presence of the persons witnessing it this ____ day of ____ 20__, at (City), (State).
_________________ (Signature)
The foregoing instrument was signed by _____ the testator, as a Codicil to his/her Last Will and Testament, in our presence, and we, in his/her presence of each other, have hereunto subscribed our names as witnesses this ____ day of ____ 20__, at (City), (State).
__________________ (Witness) and _________________ (Witness)