How to write a will and leave a gift

Ways to leave a gift in your will

When writing or updating your will, we would recommend using a solicitor or an experienced will writer. It doesn’t have to be expensive, and you can look around for different quotes to get a good deal.

If you live outside of the UK, we recommend that you seek both legal and financial advice, to ensure that it is possible to include the Futures Fund in your will.

Leaving a gift is simple, the most important bits of information to include are our name, address and registered charity number:

The Institution of Engineering and Technology
Futures Place
Kings Way
Stevenage
Hertfordshire
SG1 2UA
UK

Registered charity number 211014 (England and Wales) and SC038698 (Scotland)

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Types of gifts in a will

The most common types of gifts you may wish to consider making in your will are listed below.

A pecuniary gift

This is simply a fixed amount of money that you leave to a charity in your will. As the value of this type of gift can be lessened by inflation, it is a good idea to index-link your gift. This will ensure it keeps its value and is as powerful as you intended.

A residuary gift

This is a share of your total estate after all other payments (such as lifetime debts, tax and administrative expenses) have been deducted. Because a residuary legacy is a percentage of your estate, it will keep its value over time. For example, you could choose that 1% of the residuary be donated to a charity of your choice – a 1% gift can make a huge difference and impact to the work of the Futures Fund.

A specific gift

You may have specific items you wish to leave to charity. This could be property, shares or other items of value.

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How to ensure your gift is used for a specific purpose

Gifts in wills left to us will be carefully used to further priority areas of work including supporting students, inspiring children and enhancing learning opportunities and professional development.

We appreciate all gifts and use them for the most urgent and beneficial purposes. However, if you have a vision of how you would like your gift used, please contact us at development@theiet.org or on +44 (0)1438 767410 to discuss how we can do it.

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Writing your will

When writing a will there are a few formalities that you must consider.

Choosing a solicitor

Using a solicitor is particularly important if your will is not straightforward. This might be the case if:

• you own a property with someone who is not your husband, wife or civil partner
• you have young children
• you have children with a former partner
• you want to leave money to someone who can’t care for themselves
• you own a property overseas
• you own a business.

Guardians

If you are a parent, you should decide who you want to be your children’s legal guardians if both parents die when the children are under 18 (or under 16 in Scotland).

Appointing an executor

In order to carry out the instructions of your will, you’ll need to choose someone that you trust to be your executor.

What do executors do?

Executors have a legal responsibility to make sure your wishes are carried out. They can be a solicitor who charges a fee, or a friend or family member. Although a friend or family member can’t charge for being your executor, they may wish to pay a solicitor to help them.

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Reasons to consider updating your will

Once your will is written it’s a good idea to review it every five years or so and after any major life changes, such as:

• marriage or divorce
• birth of a child or grandchild
• moving house
• your executor is no longer able to fulfil their duties
• the value of your estate has changed.

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Do I need to let the Futures Fund know I’ve left a gift?

If you have already chosen to leave us a gift in your will, we’d love to hear from you. We’ll never ask about the details of the gift, as this is private to you, but it helps us to plan for our future and it is wonderful to know people have supported us in this way. It also gives us a chance to thank you personally and keep you informed about the impact your gift could make.

So, if you wish to let us know, please email Helen Osment at development@theiet.org or at +44 (0)1438 767410.

And finally, thank you, we will not forget your generosity! Every gift we receive will be remembered in IET London: Savoy Place.

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