Making a Difference through a Legacy Gift

Additional articles on giving from Vision, Pattie A. Clay Regional Medical Center's quarterly newsletter:

Charitable Gift Annuities

Memorial Giving

The Giving Tree:  Giving that Endures

Contact Pattie A. Clay Foundation:

859-625-3602
By e-mail:  mareitadaugherty@pattieaclay.org

(Reprinted from Summer, 2002  issue of Vision)

Pattie A. Clay Foundation is a proud participant in Leave a Legacy ^TM Bluegrass, a community awareness effort to encourage people to provide for the charities they love when arranging their estate plans.  The campaign’s core message is: “Make a difference. Change the world.”

Changing the world may sound like a huge undertaking, but it is really a very simple notion. By planning for the future, you can make a difference—change the world, in fact—for those causes that matter to you.  Leaving a legacy means making a plan that will help the organizations that are making a difference for you, your family and your community.  It's the long-term version of the annual donation. I heard someone refer to it recently as an “eternity leave plan,”  where donors can help their favorite charities well beyond their lifetime.

Everyone can make a difference, by taking these three very important first steps:

1. Talk to your attorney, estate or financial planner, accountant, banker or insurance agent to learn ways you can leave a bequest to Pattie A. Clay Foundation and your other favorite charities.
2. Prepare a will.  About 60% or Americans die without a will, leaving their families to make difficult decisions under stressful circumstances. Without a will, your family may suffer from the decisions that are made for them, including “involuntary philanthropy” (AKA taxes) to the government.  It probably won’t impact your family if you don’t leave a charitable gift, but it WILL have an impact if you don’t leave a will!
3. Discuss your plans and your charitable intentions with close family members or friends so that they can understand your intentions and support your decision to leave a legacy in the form of a charitable contribution.

Like many people who give so generously to Pattie A. Clay Foundation while they are alive, you may be concerned that your contribution will be missed when you are no longer around.  And rightfully so.  Researchers tell us that while about 80% of Americans make outright gifts to charity through much of their lives, only 8% make charitable bequests.  There are many types of charitable gift options to choose from, including assignment of  life insurance or retirement benefits; charitable trusts or annuities and gifts of property, securities or cash. At Pattie A. Clay Foundation, we can help you explore your options so that you make the choice that is right for you and your family.

The truth is with a little planning you can continue to make a difference for your community long after you are gone.  Won’t you start on your “eternity leave plan” today? 

8/02

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