Leaving a Legacy to Queens'
Members of Queens’ have high expectations and they expect the College to uphold the highest standards of achievement.
They expect leadership in the University, and in the sports and the arts. They expect the beauty of the College to be maintained and enhanced and, above all else, they expect the College to maintain its independence.
They are right to have high expectations, but meeting them is placing increasing burdens on us. We live in an age when providing the facilities that enable and underwrite excellence – in teaching, on the river, on the sports field or in the theatre – is expensive, but also when we receive little official funding. The College is grateful for the generous tax position it enjoys along with other charities in this country, but the State itself does not pay the cost of excellence. That burden falls on the College alone.
We are determined to fulfil the high expectations of past and current Members, for these are the starting and finishing point of Queens’ unique contribution to learning and to the world we live in. In order to do this, the College must be financially secure and resilient. Recently, the Queens’ 550 Appeal, celebrating the 550th anniversary of the College, added substantially to our resources and we all owe a debt of gratitude to our Old Members.
But not all the College’s needs have been met, and we must continue to strive for financial security if we are to maintain its position as a leading and independent foundation.
By their very nature, legacies make a greater contribution to the maintenance of excellence than is possible through annual giving out of income, despite many people’s great generosity with such gifts. Legacies permit the College to plan for the long term – to upgrade rooms, to refurbish Owlstone Croft for graduates, to endow new Fellowships and to reinvest in the Chapel, theatre and sport. Legacies also carry valuable tax advantages, both for the College and for the estate and donor.
For all these reasons, I hope you will made provisions in your will for a legacy to Queens’ College. By doing so, you continue to enjoy the benefit of your assets in your lifetime and then bestow a lasting gift on your College for the benefit of generations to come.
The College and it present Members are enormously grateful to our benefactors. That is why we have established the Arthur Armitage Society as a small way of saying ‘Thank you’, as well as honouring one of our most influential past Presidents. I hope you will want to join.
John Eatwell
President of Queens ’ College
Leaving a legacy to Queens’ College Cambridge
Making a Will is an important and very personal responsibility, especially when there are those, be they family, friends or others, who are dependent on you. Naturally, their interests come first. It is when they have been provided for that you may wish to remember other causes important to you, including your College.
The facilities you enjoyed at Queens’, the Hall, Library, Rooms, Boathouse, Chapel or Sports Field, or even the Supervisions, have for over 500 years been provided predominantly by legacies. We have all benefited from the generosity of earlier generations and this generosity creates a link from Old Members of Queens’ to today’s students and for the future. Legacies are an enduring good, enabling the provision of that distinctive education and permanent friendship that characterises our College.
Making a Bequest to Queens’ College
Queens’ welcomes bequests of any sum to support any aspect of the life and work of the College to use the income where is most needed at the time. However, if you wish particularly to support teaching, or sports, the arts, the Chapel or the buildings – or perhaps something that was of special importance to you in your time at Queens’ – then you can be sure that the College will honour your generosity.
As you would expect, the College anticipates that you will wish to seek legal and financial advice about the terms of your Will. This may be especially important for Members who are not residents of the United Kingdom and for whom the tax position may be different. The College is, of course, happy to advise on specific forms of words, and of areas of most need. Please feel able to contact the President in complete confidence.
The Arthur Armitage Society
All Members of Queens’ who inform the College they have made a legacy in favour of Queens’ will be enrolled in the Arthur Armitage Society. There is no need to specify the size of legacy – only its existence. All Members of the Society, together with their partners, will be entertained at Queens’.
Forms of Words
The particular designation of Queens’ for the purpose of a bequest is:
The Queen’s College of St Margaret and St Bernard, commonly known as Queens’ College in the University of Cambridge
(As ever, the different location of the apostrophes is deliberate!) Moreover, your intention, and the position of your Trustees or Executors can be safeguarded by the words:
I direct that the receipt of the person appearing to my Trustees and Executors to be the Bursar or other proper officer for the time being of Queens’ College shall be full discharge to my Trustees and Executors who shall not thereafter be concerned as to the application of this gift.
Forms of Bequest
There are many ways in which a legacy can take effect, and once again it may be wise to seek advice. In general terms, a bequest may be:
- A pecuniary legacy, that is a gift of a specific sum of money given under the original Will or in a Codicil drawn up for the specific purpose;
- A residuary legacy, that is leaving the remainder of an estate after all other legacies and gifts have been paid;
- A reversionary legacy, that is where the College receives the benefit of a legacy after the death of another named person. For example, the donor may wish to leave property to their partner for his or her life, thence to the College;
- A bequest in kind, that is where specific items of property are left to the College.
Tax Benefits
It is important to take specialist advice when considering the tax benefits of asset disposal by Will. In particular, you should investigate the tax advantages of making gifts to spouses and to charities. However, all legacies to Queens’ whether they be part of a general testamentary fiscal arrangement or not, offer tax benefits. As Queens’ is a Registered Charity, Number 1137495, legacies currently fall outside Inheritance Tax. In consequence, a legacy to Queens’ of (say) £10,000 out of an estate that is subject to Inheritance Tax, will actually cost the estate £6,000 in the sense that the remaining £4,000 is a tax saving (i.e. 40% of £10,000 at current rates is saved). In this respect the greater the legacy the greater the savings to the estate.
Informing the College
Those who give a legacy to Queens’ may choose not to inform the College in their lifetime. More importantly, personal circumstances can change, and dispositions made in a Will can be altered as the need or intention arises. Nonetheless, the College is grateful when members choose to inform it of their plans – while of course accepting that plans may change. There are three reasons for this:
- The College gains some idea of the legacies it might expect, and can make provision in its long term planning;
- If you wish your legacy to be put to a specific use, there is the opportunity to discuss ideas and to gain confidence that your plans can be carried out;
- The College can express its gratitude or respect anonymity.
What next
If you are considering making a bequest to Queens’, the President will be happy to discuss your plans in the strictest confidence. Of course, you may wish to act privately, and if this is the case the College thanks you now for your continued support.
The President can be contacted directly – details as follows:
The President
Queens’ College
Cambridge
CB3 9YA
Tel: 01223 335556
E-mail president@queens.cam.ac.uk
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