Legacies and Donations

LEGACIES The Parochial Church Council (PCC) has always endeavoured to use legacies to help fund significant development projects in the parish, whether buildings, equipment or staff. However, as circumstances can and do change over the years, it may not always be possible to fulfil specific requests made by a donor, so church members are encouraged to leave legacies for the general purposes of the parish. Where appropriate, the PCC will discuss with executors the most appropriate use of a legacy in the light of current projects and the donor's known areas of interest in the church (e.g. children & youth, music, buildings). To clarify this: When a donation or legacy is given to the PCC for a specific purpose, the PCC is required to set up a Restricted Fund as that money may not be used for any other purpose without the permission of the donor(s). Clearly, the more restrictive the conditions, the more constraints are placed on the PCC for its use. When a donation is made for a specific purpose, this, generally, is not a problem as it can be spent on the need relatively soon after the gift is made. However, settlement of an estate may take place many years after a legacy was written into a will, so in that time, the needs of the parish may have significantly changed and therefore may make application of a legacy with a very limited purpose difficult to use. In such an event, the PCC would have to negotiate with the executors to change the restrictions. A legacy to the church might be simply expressed in a will as: "I give the sum of £XXXX (or x% of my residuary estate) free of all taxes to the Parochial Church Council (PCC) of the Parish of St John and St Luke, Clay Hill, Enfield in the Diocese of London and its successors for its general purposes and I declare that a receipt issued by an officer of the PCC shall be a sufficient discharge to my executors." (Please note that legacies to the parish should be made payable to the Parochial Church Council of the Parish of St John and St Luke, Clay Hill, as the legally accountable body, not to the Incumbent and Churchwardens.) If you prefer the PCC to use part of your legacy for some particular purpose, then you should write a non-binding letter to your executors setting out your wishes and store it with the will. The PCC will then consider your request, and will endeavour to do its best to meet it in the light of the church's circumstances after your death. As there are two churches in the parish, a legacy can be restricted to a particular church by saying something like "For the general purposes connected with St John's, Clay Hill". The PCC is a Registered Charity, number 1151418. Witnesses to a will or codicil must be independent and cannot receive any benefit. Therefore if the PCC is going to benefit from your legacy, the document must not be witnessed by any of the clergy or parish officers. Further information about making legacies to the church can be found at: http://www.churchlegacy.org.uk Here are some suggested forms of words to indicate the purpose of a legacy that you might consider: a) the simplest wording with the widest possible application for a legacy to the parish of St John & St Luke, Clay Hill would be "To the Parochial Church Council of the Parish of St John and St Luke, Clay Hill, Enfield in the Diocese of London and its successors for its general purposes". This would enable the PCC to use it for anything related to the parish - especially as virtually all non-building related projects, such as new hymn books, apply equally to both churches. b) if you wish to restrict the legacy to, say, St John's Church, then the simplest wording with the widest possible application would be "To the Parochial Church Council (PCC) of the Parish of St John and St Luke, Clay Hill, Enfield in the Diocese of London and its successors for the general purposes connected with St John's Church, Clay Hill". This would enable it be used for anything related to St John's and its Hall including the fabric of the buildings, the church garden, the organ, new hymn books, new seating, a new piano etc. c) Finally, as there will always be building projects in the future for the Churches and Halls such as replacement heating, window guards or even a new roof, a more restricted purpose for a legacy might be "To the Parochial Church Council (PCC) of the Parish of St John and St Luke, Clay Hill, Enfield in the Diocese of London and its successors for the general renovation and improvement of St Luke's Church and Hall, Enfield." One way of safeguarding your legacy and so avoiding difficulties when your estate is being executed, would be for you to send the PCC Treasurer a draft of the wording that you propose to include in your will before you go ahead. This will enable the Treasurer to advise you of any possible issues that it might generate and to suggest changes to resolve them. (Obviously you would not be bound to accept any suggestions made!) DONATIONS Much of the above regarding the purpose for a legacy also applies to the purpose for a donation. The only difference would be if you wanted to fund a specific short-term project, such as refurbishment of St John's carillon or new chairs for St Luke's refectory. However, in such a case, you would need to know what the project would cost and whether your donation would be enough for it to go ahead. For example, if you donated £1,000 for a named project that was estimated to cost £10,000 and the PCC did not have the other £9,000, then your donation would, effectively, be unusable. Similarly, if your donation was significantly more than the cost of the project, then the PCC may find it difficult to make use of the surplus. As a bonus, the Government’s Gift Aid Scheme enables the parish to reclaim 25p income tax for every £1 gifted – at no cost to the giver! Accordingly, the parish strongly encourages any taxpayer who makes a donation, to Gift Aid it either by using the yellow Gift Aid envelopes that can be found in the pews of both our churches or by signing a declaration with the following words: “I am a UK taxpayer and want the PCC of St John and St Luke to reclaim tax on this donation and all donations I make hereafter under the Gift Aid Scheme. I note that I should tell the PCC if I don't pay an amount of Income and/or Capital Gains Tax that at least equals the tax reclaimed on my donations” or by downloading and using the Donation Gift Aid form. CHEQUES Cheques should be made payable to: PCC of St John and St Luke Clay Hill And sent to: The PCC Treasurer, c/o Clay Hill Vicarage, 92 Browning Road, Enfield, Middlesex, EN2 0HG