There are multiple ways to support a non-profit organisation to create change. Direct donations are one avenue, as is workplace giving, where you pledge an amount of your salary to a non-profit each paycheck.
Another impactful way to donate — one Sidey says is unfortunately “quite hidden”— is by leaving a gift in your will.
‘A great feeling to leave something behind’
For Karen Faehndrich, the decision to leave a gift in her will to Cancer Council came from a very personal place.
“We’ve got the BRCA1 gene in our family,” she says, referring to a genetic mutation that puts her family at heightened risk of developing cancers.
Cancer has impacted Karen’s father, grandmother, her great Aunt and many of her cousins.
“It just goes on and on and on,” she says. “I think cancer touches everybody in some way. It’s probably one of the things you can say everyone in the world will have had some experience or some impact with cancer.”
In leaving a gift in her will to Cancer Council, Karen says she knows the organisation “will do great things” with the money. She is impressed with their history of research, and while she doesn’t expect a cure, Karen hopes her bequest will help them develop a “formidable” response to the disease – especially considering almost one in two Australians will be affected by cancer by the age of 85.
Maree Sidey confirms that gifts in wills “can make a real difference to the sustainability of the organisation”. Even a gift of 1 per cent of your estate goes a long way.
But if you’re considering the commitment, Sidey urges you to tell the charity before you’re gone. “Get involved with the organisation and support them and understand their work while you’re with us because it’s a much richer, deeper relationship,” she says.
Karen’s experience with Cancer Council confirms this. “Once they know, then you become a part of a community of people,” she says. “It’s fantastic and I get updates and additional information on the way they’re currently spending their money around research and the great work they’re doing and the progress they’re making. And I find that really reassuring.”
After living a life so haunted by the threat of cancer, Karen says there’s nothing quite like knowing she’s leaving something that will help other families like hers.
“I feel fantastic about that. I really do,” she says. “That’s a great feeling to leave something behind that becomes a part of your legacy.”
A cancer free future is something many of us dream of. By leaving a gift in your will – even 1 per cent of your estate – you can bring this cancer free future closer. Imagine that! Help create a legacy that will live on, for years and generations to come. Visit cancercouncil.com.au/ways-to-donate/bequests/ to find out more.
