4. Charity Bequests - a gift for the future

Why support the Heart Foundation?

The Heart Foundation is a not-for-profit, non-government organisation. To carry out our work, we rely on the generous support of everyday New Zealanders through donations and bequests. Heart disease is the single biggest killer in New Zealand and despite huge advances in both treatment and prevention, cardiovascular disease accounts for 40% of all deaths. With many of these preventable, the Heart Foundation is steadfast in its goal to stop New Zealanders dying prematurely from heart disease.

A bequest pledge to the Heart Foundation is a much-needed future gift towards our life-saving work. We are committed to improving the heart health of all New Zealanders, and ensuring the reduction in heart disease continues well into the future. Your gift through a bequest will help keep New Zealand families together for longer, for generations to come.

The Work of the Heart Foundation

The Heart Foundation plays a major role in working to reduce the high incidence of heart disease through:

• Funding cutting edge research into prevention and treatment
• Training of cardiologists through fellowships and scholarships
• Supporting numerous affiliated cardiac clubs with resources, training and heart health education,
• Promoting healthy eating and physical activity to schools, community groups and organisations throughout the country, to help patients and their families after a heart event
• Working with the food industry, manufacturers, retailers  and caterers to promote the development and delivery of healthier foods
• Training health professionals to support people wanting to quit smoking
• Improving Pacific -people’s heart health by delivering a range of government subsidised smoking prevention and cessation services and nutrition and physical activity programmes

Why have a will?

By making a will you are deciding the future of your assets. In so doing, you can choose to leave a gift to create positive change and make a difference for the causes and the people that you care about.

Having a will allows your wishes to be carried out after your death and helps to avoid any confusion. If you wish to leave a bequest to the Heart Foundation, this can be for a specific amount, a percentage of your total estate or the residue of your estate after your other commitments have been met. The freedom is yours to decide. If you have an existing will, and you wish to include a bequest, please contact your legal advisor or trustee company about changing the will (by a codicil) or drafting a new will.

This is usually free of charge or at a nominal cost.

We strongly recommend that you seek advice from a legal advisor or trustee company when arranging your will.

Leaving a bequest

If you choose to leave the Heart Foundation a bequest in your will, the following wording is suggested: “I give to The National Heart Foundation of New Zealand the sum of $___ (or a percentage, or the residue of my Estate, or a description of the property or asset given) for its general purposes and declare that the receipt of the Executive Director of the Foundation or other proper officer shall be sufficient discharge for my Trustee”.

Confidential reply

We appreciate that your will is a confidential document. However, it would be beneficial for us to know if you have left or are considering leaving a bequest to the Heart Foundation, so we can acknowledge your generous support and keep you up to date with our latest  work.