A new campaign to encourage more people to give money to charity was warmly welcomed today by Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt. The Legacy10 campaign, launched today at Tate Britain, is being spearheaded by RLM Finsbury chairman Roland Rudd and has the backing of a range of businesspeople, entrepreneurs, artists and sporting figures. It is encouraging people to leave ten per cent of their legacy to charity, and so benefit from a new inheritance tax break.
“Times are tough at the moment and while people are feeling the pinch, more than half the population still give to charity each month. What’s surprising is that only seven per cent of people ever leave money to a charity in their will," says Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport Jeremy Hunt.
“Including a gift to charity in a will is a great way to recognise an organisation that’s been there for you during your life. It’s also a brilliant way to help that charity become more financially secure and continue their work in the future.
“Legacy10 is a great initiative and as you can see from those that have signed up, there are lots of individuals who have already made this change. Hopefully after today, they can encourage even more.”
Legacy10 is a nationwide campaign to encourage people to leave more legacies to charity in their wills. It will receive a boost with the tax changes that come into effect in April, which will allow people who leave more than ten per cent of their estate to charity to pay a reduced rate of any inheritance tax due on the remainder of the estate.
Jeremy Hunt has introduced a series of measures to encourage greater philanthropy in the cultural sector, including launching a £100 million match funding scheme to stimulate more private giving to arts and culture.