Our legacy starts with you.
Our legacy starts with you.
Leave a legacy that reflects your values
A gift in your will can make a lasting difference in your community. By giving through United Way East Ontario’s Tomorrow Fund™, you can change lives by supporting local programs with the greatest measurable impact in our communities—and help build a region that’s great for everyone.
What is planned giving?
Planned giving is a way to make a meaningful contribution to a cause you care about while aligning with your personal, financial, and family goals.
Most often, this means leaving a gift in your will. But planned giving can also include donations made through your estate or long-term financial planning, such as gifts of life insurance, securities, or retirement funds.
These gifts don’t affect your finances today—but they can make a powerful impact tomorrow. Planned giving lets you continue to support the people and communities you care about, long into the future.
Is planned giving right for you?
You have more power to make an impact than you realize.
By leaving a small portion of your estate to charity—just 5 per cent, for example— you can make a significant difference for your community, while still supporting the people who matter most to you.
Take, for example, an estate of $800,000. A 5 per cent gift to charity would mean $40,000 invested in changing local lives for the better. You can feel confident knowing your planned gift is creating a more equitable future and that the majority of your estate remains with your family.
If you’ve previously contributed to a cause that’s close to your heart, you already have a desire to help others and leave the world a better place. A planned gift is a perfect way to carry that legacy forward.
Thanks to donors who choose to leave a gift in their will, we can create lasting social change. Ready to leave your legacy with United Way?
Paving a path for lasting impact
Peter Schmolka became a Planned Giving donor because he knows United Way will get to the root of local issues and support long-term solutions.
Peter has been a United Way donor for more 40 years, loyally giving through his workplace campaign during his time as a translator and language advisor with the Government of Canada, and now as a GCWCC retiree.
“I believe in what United Way is doing and that it fills vital needs in our communities in eastern Ontario. From the knowledge I gained during my time in the social services sector early in my career, I know that they [United Way East Ontario] play an important—even indispensable, role in our communities. Now and for future generations.”
Planned giving
and taxes
We’ve teamed up with Melany Goodhue, Certified Financial Planner at Pulse Wealth Management, to answer questions around charitable giving and to ensure you’re making decisions that are right for you and your community.
"It just seemed like the right thing to do. There are tax benefits to the estate, for one thing. And for another, family members don't have the added burden of carrying out wishes."
The Tomorrow Fund™ in action
Thanks to donors who choose to leave a gift to United Way in their will, our team is able to make strategic investments to address issues facing our communities.
These investments include research, crisis response, and supporting innovative approaches to impact.
Powering important conversations with youth
In spring 2023, Ottawa youth and adults from youth-serving groups identified a need to have open, collaborative, and solutions-focused conversations about mental health, addictions, and substance use health.
A planning group was formed, and over three months, youth and adults worked together to create an event with the purpose of coming up with innovative ideas that improve the wellbeing of local youth.
📷 Hot Shoe Productions
With support from the Tomorrow Fund ™…
project step, Ottawa Youth Engagement Committee, Ottawa Child and Youth Initiative, Ottawa Public Health, Youth Net, and Youth Ottawa co-hosted a three-hour conversation with 26 youth and adults that touched on:
- Common terms like mental health, addictions, substance use health, gambling, and problematic technology use, and what these mean from youth with lived experiences.
- What wellness might look like for a youth, their family, and their community.
- Types of help that already exist and other tools and resources that could be created.
- Tangible action items to prioritize and put in motion right away.
This Tomorrow Fund ™ investment not only made this conversation possible, but also ensured youth were compensated for their participation.
Together, we are transforming lives today and tomorrow
4 benefits of legacy giving with United Way
During a crisis like the pandemic, planned gifts enable us to act quickly to help the most vulnerable. In normal times, they provide much-needed support that thousands of local people rely on.
There’s a story behind each planned gift
Giving to charity is one of the most selfless and rewarding acts you can do in your lifetime. When choosing to leave a gift in your will—a planned gift—it’s a powerful show of support for our work.
When you include United Way in your will, you can feel confident that your gift will remain stable and accessible for years to come and will provide much-needed support that thousands of local people rely on.
How to leave a gift to the Tomorrow Fund™ in your will
If you don’t have a will …
Consider that having a will in place is the simplest way to distribute your estate the way you choose. It also makes it easy to give a gift in support of United Way East Ontario. Consult a lawyer or financial planning professional to create your will.
If you already have a will …
Don’t set it and forget it! Be sure to review your will every couple of years to ensure that it stays relevant. A new marriage, divorce, birth, or death of a family member should all result in a review to make sure your will is still protecting the people you love.
A bequest is the most common type of planned gift. This can be a sum of money, a piece of property, or a percentage of your estate that is designated to United Way East Ontario in your will. Other types of planned gifts also include RRSPs/RRIFs, life insurance, securities/stocks, charitable remainder trusts and gifts-in-kind.
Here are a few examples of language to consider using when creating or revising your will. If you have special wishes regarding how you would like to personalize and design your bequest or other planned gift, please contact us—we would be happy to help.
Give a percentage or residue of your estate to United Way East Ontario
“I give to United Way East Ontario, currently located at 363 Coventry Road, Ottawa, Ontario, K1C2C5, [_________ %] of the rest, residue, or remainder of my estate to be used for its general charitable purposes in accordance with this organization’s applicable practices and policies.”
Give a specific asset or collection of assets such as cash, stocks/securities, or other designated property to United Way East Ontario
“I give [$ ______________] or [a specific asset] to United Way East Ontario, currently located at 363 Coventry Road, Ottawa, Ontario, K1K2C5, to be used for its general charitable purposes and held and administered in accordance with this organization’s applicable practices and policies.”
You have identified a specific area of interest that to which you wish your gift be, for example, to support youth homelessness in Ottawa
“I give, devise and bequeath [______________%] or [ $ ____________] or [a specific asset] to United Way East Ontario currently located at 363 Coventry Road, Ottawa, Ontario, K1K2C5 to be used to support [_____________________________] and held and administered in accordance with this organization’s applicable practices and policies.”
Once you have a sense of the type of gift you wish to make, we advise that you consult a lawyer or financial planning professional to complete your will.
Gifts of life insurance
The gift of life insurance provides a unique opportunity to make a positive impact in the future while receiving tax benefits today. It allows you to make a long-term investment while preserving the value of your estate for your loved ones. Choosing to give the gift of life insurance means the proceeds of the policy are paid directly to United Way East Ontario and remain in our region.
How to transfer ownership to United Way East Ontario:
- Give an already paid-up policy and receive a donation receipt for the cash value of the policy.
- Give an existing policy on which premiums are still being paid and receive a receipt for the cash value of the policy and subsequent premium payments.
How to make United Way a benefactor:
- Name “United Way East Ontario” as the beneficiary of your policy and a donation receipt will be issued to your estate, which can be claimed in your final tax return.
Acknowledging your gift
We would like to honour your generous philanthropy by recognizing you in our annual Honour Roll, and by inviting you and your family to donor events and community activities. We will also respect your wish to give anonymously should you choose to do so.
Prepare to leave your legacy
Legacy giving is a powerful way to support the causes that matter most to you—from supporting youth experiencing homelessness, to connecting isolated seniors, to ensuring everyone has access to mental health support. Every gift helps build stronger, healthier, more resilient communities in Prescott-Russell, Ottawa, Lanark County, and Renfrew County.
For more information on how to leave a gift to United Way East Ontario in your will, please contact me today.
Jessica Deut
Manager, Donor Relations
United Way East Ontario
jdeut@unitedwayeo.ca
Tel : 613-371-9591
Your legacy is in good hands.
We invest your gift in smart, strategic ways, to ultimately move the needle.
100% Local Impact
Every donation is put to work in the community where it is raised.
Top 100 Canadian Charity
Charity Intelligence, MoneySense & Maclean’s named us a top-100 Canadian charity.
Issues You Care About
Poverty. Isolation. Homelessness. Together, we can tackle the issues that seem impossible to solve.
