HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Huntsville’s nonprofit community launches WillPower, an educational campaign to boost awareness of charitable estate planning. While 63% of Americans make charitable donations during their lifetimes, only 8% of Americans include a gift to charity in their estate plans. WillPower is a collaborative effort to build brighter futures by encouraging local donors to leave a portion of their estate to charity.
The goal of planned giving is to create a legacy that benefits the donors, their heirs, and charitable organizations. WillPower educates donors on how to collaborate with their financial advisor or attorney to donate even a small portion of their estate to charity through a will or bequest, a beneficiary designation, or a life insurance policy.
According to Director of Development Christina Tabereaux, education is key to understanding this concept.
"We know planned giving is a long game," Tabereaux stated. "And it just really requires education and communication to the public to say here's why this matters, here's why this matters for community groups in Madison County, but also here's how it can make a difference to you as a donor as well."
A planned gift allows a donor to create a meaningful legacy that provides for their loved ones while funding the mission of their favorite nonprofit organizations or causes forever. WillPower is a collaborative educational campaign funded by nineteen local nonprofit organizations:
• Boys & Girls Clubs of North Alabama
• Burritt on the Mountain
• Community Foundation of Greater Huntsville
• Drake State Community & Technical College
• Fantasy Playhouse Children’s Theater & Academy
• Food Bank of North Alabama
• HEALS
• Heart of the Valley YMCA
• HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology
• Huntsville Botanical Garden
• Huntsville Hospital Foundation
• Huntsville Symphony Orchestra Foundation
• Huntsville-Madison County Library Foundation
• National Children’s Advocacy Center
• Still Serving Veterans
• Thrive Alabama
• U.S. Space & Rocket Center Education Foundation
• The University of Alabama in Huntsville
• WellStone
Donors can ensure that these organizations remain strong for years to come by simply including a gift to charity in their estate plan. This simple action will positively impact the Huntsville, Alabama region and help nonprofits continue their work for the next generation.
The donations can also help ease financial burdens. "Those kinds of gifts can be beneficial not just for the nonprofit, certainly to support them, but also to the donor themselves," Tabereaux stated. "It can help reduce their tax burden on their estate or for their heirs, and so you can channel those funds in a way that everybody wins."
“Each legacy is as unique as the donor who creates it. By creating a legacy gift as part of an estate plan, a donor make a powerful statement about the way he or she wants to be remembered. The Community Foundation partners with thousands of donors to do their lifetime giving, and we stand poised to help donors manage their legacy giving as well. We believe that your estate plan is a powerful tool to change lives, change our community, and change the future. Together, we can embark on a journey in generosity that makes a lasting difference in the community we love and the causes you care about forever,” said Community Foundation CEO/President Melissa Thompson.
WillPower will launch its campaign in October to boost awareness about charitable estate planning for National Estate Planning Awareness Week. For more information about WillPower, or to discover the power in planning, visit their website.