Concordia

Concordia Winter 2021

Legacies at Merchant Taylors’

F or many charities, the vast majority of their annual income comes to them through legacies: gifts in donors’ wills. This should perhaps come as no surprise – while people often shy away from talking about them, they are certainly one of the most effective ways of supporting the causes that mean the most to you and may be the way to make the gift you couldn’t necessarily afford in your lifetime. This is not to mention the Inheritance Tax benefits that can be derived by leaving charitable legacies. At Merchant Taylors’, legacies can and do have a huge impact. The vast majority of legacy gifts are directed towards bursaries – specifically the endowment of bursaries, so that these gifts can go on supporting bursaries in perpetuity; something we have always felt is fitting. That said, this year the school has received its largest ever gift – £1m – and it was made with the express intention of ensuring that the Indoor Cricket Centre project was made possible. The building will be named for Julian Hill, and his legacy will have a huge impact on the lives of so many Merchant Taylors’ pupils, his fellow OMTs, and members of the local community who will benefit from the Cricket Centre. Legacies do not have to be of this magnitude though. If, once you have taken care of family and friends, you feel that there is support you can give to charities, then please do

consider remembering the school in this way. A conservative estimate of the current combined legacy pledges to the school is £1.7m. This will do so much for so many boys in future. It is enough to endow three full bursaries in perpetuity. Maybe this doesn’t sound like much, but consider the long-term impact, as we should with these lasting legacies: in 100 years’ time, this will have helped 43 boys come through the school for no fee; boys who, without support, would not be able to consider Merchant Taylors’ as an option. A gift to achieve the same amount without endowment would need to be around £6.5m, and that assumes no fee increases over the next 100 years! OMTs have shared with us their motivations for leaving a legacy. They usually centre on the idea of offering others the opportunity they were given as schoolboys, either because their parents were in a position to send them to Merchant Taylors’, or because they received a bursary themselves. Others have told us they have done so because of a debt of gratitude towards the school, or former teachers in particular, for the start it gave them. Whatever the reason for making this wonderful commitment, we are so grateful and have formed the 1561 Foundation as a way of thanking and informing this group of supporters. We now have members in their 20s as well as their 90s. Sadly our last planned gathering – a day watching Middlesex County Cricket Club play on the 1st XI square – had to be cancelled because of restrictions imposed for that fixture. However, we will get together again soon. For further information about legacies to the school, including examples of how gifts can be made to reduce Inheritance Tax liabilities, please do visit our website (https://development.mtsn. org.uk/legacy-giving), or request a brochure from the Development Office (nlatham@mtsn. org.uk or 01923 845589).

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Development

Julian Hill (1974-1979) with the Cricket World Cup at Arundel in 2019