A Gift In Your Will
Leave a legacy for a better world.
Including a gift in your Will is a meaningful way to support what you value most.
For more than 145 years, legacy gifts have played an invaluable role in the success of the University of Adelaide and our community. Gifts in Wills have helped generations of students through scholarships, and supported ground-breaking research that has produced positive outcomes both locally and globally.
We will work with you to ensure that your generous legacy will make a difference for many years to come.
Our Development Manager (Planned Giving), would be happy to have a conversation with you and can be reached on +61 8 8313 2597 or development@adelaide.edu.au.
Talk to us
We would love to hear from you. Contact us for a confidential, no pressure discussion about the areas of the University that interest you most and how you can make a difference.
Gifts nurture local talent
An amateur pianist and opera enthusiast, Occupational Therapist and Post-Doctoral Research Fellow Dr Mark Thompson has chosen to support a scholarship for classical voice with a gift in his Will.
Gifts transform lives
Thanks to the LF & D Denholm Scholarship, Stephanie was able to undertake research vital to her PhD in the United Kingdom, and work with leading academics.
Leaving a gift in your Will is one of the most powerful ways to make a difference. Once your loved ones have been provided for, you may wish to consider supporting an area close to your heart.
There are many benefits of leaving a gift in your Will:
- Creating a personal, lasting legacy.
- Supporting a cause even if you are unable to make donations now.
- Controlling how your estate is spent and what it can achieve.
- Joining the Hughes Society and meeting like-minded people through special engagement opportunities.
There are different types of gifts you can make in your Will, and here is some of the terminology you might come across.
Bequest
A bequest is a gift of money or property made in a Will. The bequest can be given outright, or made subject to terms such as a preference or condition for its use, or it being contingent on another beneficiary passing away first. Bequests are sometimes also called legacies and there are terms for specific types of bequests. See Residual Gift, Endowment.
Residual Gift
A residual gift is a gift of the balance of your estate once all bequests to other beneficiaries have been distributed.
Endowment
An endowment is a gift which is held forever ("in perpetuity"). This provides a permanent income for the beneficiary, or for a particular purpose specified by the donor.
Endowment Fund
The Endowment Fund is an investment fund established and maintained by the University, consisting of endowments including gifts in Wills, with the objective of providing long term capital growth as well as a stable annual income stream in perpetuity.
Trust
In the University's context, a trust is a legal obligation on the University to use a gift in a particular way. For example, if a gift were received for the stated purposes of funding research into the causes of cancer, that creates a "charitable trust" which obliges the University to hold those funds for that purpose.
The University of Adelaide is trustee of over 500 trusts established by gifts or bequests, providing income for a wide range of purposes including prizes, scholarships, fellowships, research funding, books and publications, and faculty equipment.
We have a University-wide compliance reporting program to ensure that income of each trust is spent for the purpose specified by the donor. For more information visit Trusts and Bequests.
It is easy to leave a gift to the University in your Will, and you can also add a codicil to an existing Will. We strongly recommend that you seek independent legal advice to assist you with this process.
The following suggested wording may be used in consultation with your advisers.
General purpose
“I give to the University of Adelaide (or its legal successor) (the sum of $......., or .......% of my estate) to be used in such manner as the University determines or approves and I declare that the receipt of an authorised officer of the University shall be sufficient discharge to my Trustee, who shall not be bound to see the application of the gift.”
Specific purpose
“I give to the University of Adelaide (or its legal successor) (the sum of $....... or .......% of my estate) and I express the wish, without creating a trust or legally binding obligation, that this gift be used for (state your preferred use for the gift), and I declare that the receipt of an authorised officer of the University shall be sufficient discharge to my Trustee, who shall not be bound to see the application of the gift.”
The legislation to create Adelaide University explicitly provides that testamentary dispositions, gifts or deeds made to the University of Adelaide will transfer to the new Adelaide University.
If you wish to leave a gift to support a specific area or purpose within the University, such as scholarships or research, please contact us on +61 8 8313 2597 or development@adelaide.edu.au so that we understand your intentions. Our legal team can work with your advisers to ensure that your wishes can be fulfilled.
Please contact our Development Manager (Planned Giving) for more information on legacy giving on +61 8 8313 2597 or development@adelaide.edu.au
Alternatively, you can complete the form below and we will be in touch. Your information is treated in the strictest confidence and any intentions you specify are not binding in any way.