Community Foundation announces £300k match fund for Gifts in Wills

22 Nov 2021

The Community Foundation for Northern Ireland has launched an innovative new match funding initiative to support giving to local communities through charitable gifts in Wills.  The £300,000 ‘Gifts in Wills’ match fund will match charitable gifts at 50%, up to a maximum of £50,000.

SÍofra Healy, Development Director at the Community Foundation explained:

“We’ve developed this new initiative, the first of its kind in NI, in consultation with professional advisors and in support of financial and estate planning.   The match funding initiative means that the impact of legacies or ‘Gifts in Wills’ to support local causes and places, will be significantly increased.

“We welcome and encourage any donation, large or small through gifts in wills and a legacy can be managed in perpetuity as well as more immediately.    Our fund for the future will also add a further 50% to a minimum £30k pledge to establish a ‘named’ fund.  This alternative to setting up a charitable trust enables multiple charities to benefit over many years.   Over the next months, we’ll be running information roadshows for solicitors and other professional advisors in towns across Northern Ireland about the match fund and the potential benefits to clients.

Speaking at the legacy match fund launch, David Lavery, Chief Executive of the Law Society said:

“We’ve partnered with the Community Foundation on the launch of their ‘Gifts in Wills’ initiative because we believe that it could help our members support their clients to make a huge contribution to the causes they care about.

“We’re supporting the rollout of information to members in local solicitor associations and we encourage them to take advantage of this scheme which will give significant added value to their clients.”

Find out more or get in touch with Marcus at marcus@communityfoundationni.org