Thank you
Thank you so much for supporting St Gemma’s Hospice. You may have facilitated a charitable bequest, joined a team of colleagues taking part in one of our fundraising events, or donated your time during ‘Make a Will Month’. Whichever way you help, it’s greatly appreciated. Your kindness enables local people with life-limiting illnesses to receive outstanding hospice care.
Make a Will Month
One of the ways law firms in our community can help St Gemma’s is by taking part in ‘Make a Will Month’, our local Will-writing scheme which takes place each October. During this time, solicitors donate their time at no cost to the Hospice for a limited number of Will-writing appointments – you choose how many you’ll provide. By waiving your usual fee for these in return for a charitable donation, you can help make Will-writing accessible to local families while generating vital income to run the Hospice.
How the scheme works
- You let us know by Friday 22nd July if you can take part in the scheme
- You decide how many appointments you’ll offer as part of the scheme, and waive your usual Will-writing fees for those appointments
- We include your details in our marketing material and start promoting the scheme in late August
- Clients book their appointments by calling their chosen solicitor directly and quoting ‘St Gemma’s Make a Will Month’ when they book
- If a Will is complex and you need to charge for additional work, you inform the client of this before you proceed
- Once you’ve filled all your available appointments, you let us know
- If you receive further requests for appointments, you ask callers to contact St Gemma’s
- Each client signs their Will with you within 8 weeks of their initial Will-writing appointment and makes their donation direct to us
- You tell us how many appointments you provided so we can confirm that we’ve received the correct number of donations relating to these appointments
- We report back to you in January to let you know how much the scheme raised overall and how much your firm contributed to the total
If you have any questions about how the scheme works please visit www.st-gemma.co.uk/makeawillmonth, email anna.murphy@st-gemma.co.uk or call Anna on 0113 306 9170.
Suggested donation amount
The suggested donation is at least £100 for a basic single Will or £150 for a basic mirror Will. As this payment is a donation which can be Gift-Aided, rather than a fee that could be subject to VAT, the client must decide how much to donate. We will make it clear to our supporters that you are providing your time and expertise at no cost to St Gemma’s. We will ask them to consider the value of your time when they decide how much to donate to the Hospice in lieu of your fee when they sign their Will.
When the appointment is booked, and again during the appointment, please remind the client that they should make a donation directly to the Hospice in lieu of your fee.
- The client can donate in several ways:
- Call the Hospice on 0113 218 5555
- Visit st-gemma.co.uk/donate
- Send a cheque payable to ‘St Gemma’s Hospice’ to St Gemma’s Hospice, 329 Harrogate Road, Leeds LS17 6QD
- The client should make it clear that their donation is for a ‘Make a Will Month’
- The client should tell us that their appointment was with your firm so we can let you know how much your individual firm raised, as well as the total raised by all the firms
The material promoting the scheme states that all the solicitors taking part in the scheme are waiving their fees for simple Wills. If a Will is more complex there may also be an additional fee to pay. We ask supporters to discuss this with you when you make their appointment. Please let the client know if there will be any additional costs before you proceed.
We also make it clear that different firms may provide office appointments, home visits, video calls or telephone appointments, and that some solicitors may charge extra for home visits.
If you can, please give us an idea of where clients heard about ‘Make a Will Month’ so we know which marketing methods are most effective.
Make a Will Month bequests
If a client takes part in ‘Make a Will Month’ there’s no obligation to include St Gemma’s in their Will, and they don’t need to let us know their intentions. However, we hope that supporters taking part in the scheme will consider including a charitable bequest to help local families in the future. In a typical year, gifts left in wills fund the care of 1 in 5 patients supported by St Gemma’s. Solicitors can encourage this by asking each client if they have a favourite charity they’d like to remember after they’ve looked after those closest to them.
If your client decides to leave a gift to the Hospice, please include the following details in the Will:
St Gemma’s Hospice
329 Harrogate Road
Moortown
Leeds LS17 6QD
Registered Charity No 1015941
This will help make it easy for their gift to reach St Gemma’s when the time comes.
The client may also like to include the reason for their support. If their gift is in memory of a loved one, they may wish to note this in their Will. They’re also welcome to let us know their intentions now, so we can thank them and keep a note of the reason for their support.
Please remind supporters that they can help ‘future proof’ their gift by leaving the Hospice a percentage of their estate, rather than a specific amount of money. However, all gifts – whether cash, property or other assets – are gratefully received and will make a difference.
If you have any questions about how the scheme works please visit www.st-gemma.co.uk/makeawillmonth, email anna.murphy@st-gemma.co.uk or call Anna on 0113 306 9170.
