THE POWER OF YOUR LEGACY

If you’re familiar with our work, you’re probably aware that we are part of a community whose goal is to improve the world in the most effective way possible. But what if you could extend that commitment beyond your life? We’re talking about your legacy, the “you” that you leave behind.
With this idea in mind, we just introduced a new way to give! The incentive? We’ll write your will for free if you are willing to leave money to the most effective charities as determined by the charity evaluator GiveWell.

Our goal is to make the will-writing process as easy as possible, because let’s face it, writing one is easy to put off. It’s easy to leave it until tomorrow (or next week or next year) because no one ever expects the unthinkable to happen. But if we can make the process so easy that it takes between five and ten minutes, are there any good reasons not to do it? Even if you’re not exactly sure what you want in your will, it’s still better to have one than not. And it’s always possible to go back and change it later.
Even better, we’ll do our best to personalize your will. In addition to your donation to the most effective charities (to any degree you see fit), we can include:

• the executor of your will, as well as alternate executors should your initial choice be unable to do so.
• provisions for your children, siblings, nephews/nieces, friends, or even your pets (for example, who would take care of them and how to allocate funds to do so).
• other necessary provisions, such as who your business would be left to.
• specification of what sort of funeral you would like and what you would like done with your remains, thus sparing your family from making the decision.
• anything else you would like to add.

Also note: while we are happy to help you out with the details of your will, we also understand that having details ready to run with is a tall order, so we can alternatively provide you with a simple will that you can build over time.

Further, if you already have a will, we can help you write something called a codicil, which acts as an amendment or an addition to your will.

There’s really no downside here. Consider these final points:

1. Any donation you make in your will is tax deductible. If you are a UK citizen, the perks are even greater.
2. Research suggests that the amount of money one inherits will make little difference to his or her happiness, whereas money donated to effective charities would have a huge impact on the lives of others.

So without spending a dime, you can simultaneously make sure that you’re covered in the event of an unlikely tragedy and secure a legacy that will create a better world for many others. And it starts with only 5 to 10 minutes of your time.

While you’re at it, why not talk to your friends and family about it? Remember, lots of people donate to charities in their will, but not enough donate to effective charities. Imagine the impact we could make if people knew the best way to give.

Give it a shot here.

And remember, if this doesn’t appeal to you then there are other ways to take action. You can always run a fundraiser for Christmas, your birthday or any event you’d like.