Guidance

Legacy Giving - RFUK not TRF

If you leave something to charity in your will, then it won’t count towards the total taxable value of your estate. This is called leaving a ‘charitable legacy’.

You can also cut the Inheritance Tax rate on the rest of your estate from 40% to 36%, if you leave at least 10% of your ‘net estate’ to a charity.

To illustrate how this would work, let’s say that when you died:

• your net estate was worth £425,000
• in your will, you left it all to your partner who lives with you
• you have your full Inheritance Tax allowance (currently £325,000 for the 2018/19 tax year)
• you weren’t married or in a civil partnership (the spouse exemption is not available if you are not married)
• thus, the ‘net estate’ is £100,000 (i.e. £425,000 minus £325,000). And there is Inheritance Tax to pay on £100,000 at a rate of 40%
• so, your estate would have to pay a tax bill of £40,000 (i.e. 40% of £100,000).

Read more: Legacy Giving - RFUK not TRF

District Grant Reporting Criteria

A key area of the District Foundation Committee's work is around the Stewardship of the GrantFunds we disperse. The reports that are produced from the Club's running grant funded projects need to be reviewed with the expectation that we could be audited at some point. To help Rotarians compile these reports, we have listed below the criteria that will be used in the review. This should increase the chances of the report being accepted on the first attempt and save time for both the author and the reviewer.

• Is the report in a satisfactory form - using the official proforma?
• Were the recipients those mentioned in the application?
• Has the service been delivered, or the item(s) acquired?
• What attempts at publicising the project have been made?
• Final balance sheet required, with copies of receipts or other evidence?
• Is the sign-off the name of the primary or secondary contact on the application?

If your report meets all the elements of this checklist, it is very likely that it will be accepted.

Regular Donors

It can be a little confusing, but all our dealings with the Rotary Foundation tend to be in dollars as the targets and thresholds are set globally. There is only one Rotary Foundation and it covers the entire globe. The actual funds need to be held somewhere and that somewhere happens to be the USA. By paying funds into the Foundation, we are not 'sending money to the Americans', but contributing to a single global entity which supports Rotary Clubs in their work to 'Do Good in the World'.

In our part of the world, we can donate via the Rotary Foundation (UK) or RF(UK) for short. RF(UK) is a registered UK charity, which has a double benefit for us. Not only does it allow us to donate to the Rotary Foundation in Sterling, but it also allows us to take advantage of Gift Aid. All we have to do is to fill in a Gift Aid declaration and send it to the RF(UK) team in Alcester. They provide a reference to use for Standing Orders, or other direct bank payments, and they will handle all the paperwork on our behalf. RF(UK) act as a gateway to the Rotary Foundation itself, covering the exchange rate conversions and international transfers so that all the funds ultimately end up in the global account in dollars.

Read more: Regular Donors