Where Your Legacy Gift Goes - Understanding the Impact of Legacy Giving

Leaving a gift in your Will is a quiet act of generosity, usually decided at home over tea with the people you love. Yet that single sentence can light hospital corridors, fund expert nurses and fill family rooms with warmth long after we are gone. If you have ever wondered why to leave a legacy gift or a gift in your will, this guide will show how each pound you pledge travels from paperwork to bedside care and how it keeps giving families hope.

A Lifeline for Tomorrow’s Families

Leaving a legacy gift is more than a line in a Will but a promise that future families will still find comfort, dignity and compassionate end‑of‑life care when they need it most. Most hospices rely almost solely on public funding. Hospice in the Weald, for example, raises over £8 million every year to keep our services free, and only around 13% of that comes from statutory sources. That shortfall means the charity relies heavily on community donations and gifts in Wills. Spread across the calendar, the annual budget works out to roughly £22,000 every single day, underwriting everything from medicine and meals to electricity for overnight oxygen concentrators.

Creating Peaceful Spaces & Future‑Proofing Care

Legacy funds underpin capital projects, too. For example, the refurbishment of family lounges with soft sofas, kitchenettes and woodland views and the installation of renewable‑energy upgrades that trim utility bills, freeing more money for patient care. Hospice In The Weald’s strategy includes plans to expand children’s services and invest in digital medical records and predictable legacy income makes that growth possible.

Real Stories: Rebecca & Stephen

Rebecca’s Story: Rebecca’s dad Gerald, known to many as “Jed”, was a larger‑than‑life builder who filled their house with guitars, Fleetwood Mac records and laughter. When liver cancer returned, Hospice in the Weald nurses moved his bed downstairs, arranged music‑therapy visits and organised garden tea breaks so the family could sit among Dad’s favourite flowers. Later, at Cottage Hospice in Five Ashes, the team stabilised him just long enough to travel to Cornwall and walk his daughter Jess down the aisle. They even brought in Mr Hicks, the small brown therapy dog who coaxed smiles on the hardest days and inspired Jed’s “MTV Cribs” tour of the hydrotherapy bath he called his jacuzzi. “The staff made it a safe environment to show emotions,” Rebecca recalls. 

Stephen’s Story: After three and a half years battling an aggressive cancer, Stephen came to the Hospice exhausted and anxious. A night‑shift nurse simply sat with him until the panic ebbed, and within days every staff member, from chefs to cleaners, felt like family. Legacy‑funded care stabilised his symptoms, provided the equipment he needed to return home, and even served up Sandra’s “best‑ever” chicken soup. Now Stephen urges others not to fear the Hospice but to see it as “a place where you find answers,” proving how gifts in Wills translate into calm, comfort and confidence.

Everyday Running Costs – and How You Help

Keeping the Hospice open costs about £22k a day, covering everything from nutritious meals to the night‑light in a child’s room. Legacy gifts smooth those daily peaks and troughs, ensuring the lights never dim on a family’s late‑night cup of tea. Your Will can therefore safeguard everyday moments that matter as much as headline projects.

A Friendly Invitation to Leave Your Own Legacy

If you feel drawn to this cause but wonder how you can contribute, start by reading real family stories on our Gifts in Wills page. The team can introduce free Will‑writing services and answer questions in plain English. You remain free to alter or revoke your gift at any point; unrestricted legacy gifts let the Hospice respond where the need is greatest.

Pass On Something Wonderful

Choosing why to leave a gift in your will is ultimately an act of hope. It says that compassionate care, playful childhoods and dignified farewells should be a birthright. Your signature today could fund a nurse’s comforting smile in 2040, a quiet room where siblings can talk, or a piece of equipment that lets a bedridden teenager game online with friends. It is a ripple that keeps widening, long after we have gone.

Ready to find out more? Contact our team – your kindness today will bring warmth and colour to countless tomorrows.