Animal charities!
Discussion
Hi,
For approx 9 months I have been acting as the sole Executor to the Will of an elderly relation who passed away last year. Anybody who has undertaken this role will know that it often involves quite a bit of time and effort. I'm not worried about that as I felt appreciated to be asked.
The bulk of the estate was to be divided between three main charities, The Royal Artillery Charitable Fund, the Cats Protection, and the Dogs Trust. I'm not breaching any trust here as Wills become a public document.
Each charity would be receiving in excess of £100,000.
The Royal Artillery Charitable Fund were a pleasure to deal with and very appreciative.
The Cats Protection and the Dogs Trust however, were both not easy to deal with. Various phone calls were not returned and during communication with both, there was almost a degree of arrogance shown, amongst other things.
A week ago, having eventually had the funds released following Probate, I went to a bank and made three transfers to the charities. I immediately sent a polite email to the applicable representative of each charity (with whom I'd previously communicated with) requesting that they please acknowledge receipt of the payment and wishing them well with the donation.
The Royal Artillery Charitable Fund emailed back within a couple of hours and as stated above were very appreciative. To date I have heard nothing from both of the animal charities, which to be honest I find pretty disgusting! To repeat, each have received in excess of £100,000!
I knew my elderly relation well enough to know that had he known of the animal charities attitude, then they certainly wouldn't have received any donation from him.
Andy.
For approx 9 months I have been acting as the sole Executor to the Will of an elderly relation who passed away last year. Anybody who has undertaken this role will know that it often involves quite a bit of time and effort. I'm not worried about that as I felt appreciated to be asked.
The bulk of the estate was to be divided between three main charities, The Royal Artillery Charitable Fund, the Cats Protection, and the Dogs Trust. I'm not breaching any trust here as Wills become a public document.
Each charity would be receiving in excess of £100,000.
The Royal Artillery Charitable Fund were a pleasure to deal with and very appreciative.
The Cats Protection and the Dogs Trust however, were both not easy to deal with. Various phone calls were not returned and during communication with both, there was almost a degree of arrogance shown, amongst other things.
A week ago, having eventually had the funds released following Probate, I went to a bank and made three transfers to the charities. I immediately sent a polite email to the applicable representative of each charity (with whom I'd previously communicated with) requesting that they please acknowledge receipt of the payment and wishing them well with the donation.
The Royal Artillery Charitable Fund emailed back within a couple of hours and as stated above were very appreciative. To date I have heard nothing from both of the animal charities, which to be honest I find pretty disgusting! To repeat, each have received in excess of £100,000!
I knew my elderly relation well enough to know that had he known of the animal charities attitude, then they certainly wouldn't have received any donation from him.
Andy.
On one of the charity finance courses I attended several years ago there was a session from the CEO of the Cats Protection League, and IIRC he explained that it was one of the best endowed charities in the country. Astonishing figures he was talking about.
Clearly high profile charities involved with animals do very well out of legacies, and they will have specialist legacy teams dealing with the admin side, chasing settlement, and in some cases contesting wills where this is any doubt over beneficiaries.
Your military charity, being much smaller, will be relatively far more grateful to receive a legacy, hence the much better comms you are getting from them. Sad, but a reflection of scale.
If you can get hold of the CEO of the animal charities I would be emailing them direct to express your concerns. I agree it is very poor behaviour from them.
Clearly high profile charities involved with animals do very well out of legacies, and they will have specialist legacy teams dealing with the admin side, chasing settlement, and in some cases contesting wills where this is any doubt over beneficiaries.
Your military charity, being much smaller, will be relatively far more grateful to receive a legacy, hence the much better comms you are getting from them. Sad, but a reflection of scale.
If you can get hold of the CEO of the animal charities I would be emailing them direct to express your concerns. I agree it is very poor behaviour from them.
I know how you feel. My experience was similar, but with the smallest charity (a wildlife trust) being the most appreciative and even inviting me for a special beneficiaries open day, whilst the biggest - the RNLI - didn't bother replying.
I do support the CPL though, and my dealings with them have been perfectly good. In their defence, if there is one, their frontline staff generally seem to be well-meaning ladies working from home with other things to do, as opposed to professionals sitting in offices waiting for the phone to ring. And e-mail is not a 100% reliable method of communication - they may never have received them, or they went into spam. And they only got the money a week ago. When £100K is involved, a letter with SAE would be better - it's how solicitors do it.
Every organisation has a few dunderheads; they are doing their best with whatever competence they can muster
If in future you should have funds to distribute again, and are disappointed with the response of the recipient, send the bequest to me. I will reply immediately and promise to be very appreciative!
I do support the CPL though, and my dealings with them have been perfectly good. In their defence, if there is one, their frontline staff generally seem to be well-meaning ladies working from home with other things to do, as opposed to professionals sitting in offices waiting for the phone to ring. And e-mail is not a 100% reliable method of communication - they may never have received them, or they went into spam. And they only got the money a week ago. When £100K is involved, a letter with SAE would be better - it's how solicitors do it.
Every organisation has a few dunderheads; they are doing their best with whatever competence they can muster
If in future you should have funds to distribute again, and are disappointed with the response of the recipient, send the bequest to me. I will reply immediately and promise to be very appreciative!
Edited by Simpo Two on Sunday 9th July 22:36
Hi,
Thanks for the replies and info.
Our reason for going the bank transfer route was one of security. By making the transfer at a branch of the bank that we had the account with (actually made by the manager himself), should there have been any issue / loss, then we would have been covered to some degree.
Re writing complaints, I really think that this will achieve nothing at all. I had already politely complained to one of the charities about the numerous lack of returned calls, to be abruptly told that they always return calls and that I hadn't phoned in the first place!
Thanks again for your replies and I certainly will not be leaving anything to these two organisations.
On a separate note, I had a conversation yesterday with a neighbour who volunteers at The Donkey Sanctuary here in Devon. Would anybody care to guess at how much they have received in the last 12 months?
Andy
Thanks for the replies and info.
Our reason for going the bank transfer route was one of security. By making the transfer at a branch of the bank that we had the account with (actually made by the manager himself), should there have been any issue / loss, then we would have been covered to some degree.
Re writing complaints, I really think that this will achieve nothing at all. I had already politely complained to one of the charities about the numerous lack of returned calls, to be abruptly told that they always return calls and that I hadn't phoned in the first place!
Thanks again for your replies and I certainly will not be leaving anything to these two organisations.
On a separate note, I had a conversation yesterday with a neighbour who volunteers at The Donkey Sanctuary here in Devon. Would anybody care to guess at how much they have received in the last 12 months?
Andy
mkjess123 said:
Hi,
Thanks for the replies and info.
Our reason for going the bank transfer route was one of security. By making the transfer at a branch of the bank that we had the account with (actually made by the manager himself), should there have been any issue / loss, then we would have been covered to some degree.
Re writing complaints, I really think that this will achieve nothing at all. I had already politely complained to one of the charities about the numerous lack of returned calls, to be abruptly told that they always return calls and that I hadn't phoned in the first place!
Thanks again for your replies and I certainly will not be leaving anything to these two organisations.
On a separate note, I had a conversation yesterday with a neighbour who volunteers at The Donkey Sanctuary here in Devon. Would anybody care to guess at how much they have received in the last 12 months?
Andy
It's either huge or it's tiny.Thanks for the replies and info.
Our reason for going the bank transfer route was one of security. By making the transfer at a branch of the bank that we had the account with (actually made by the manager himself), should there have been any issue / loss, then we would have been covered to some degree.
Re writing complaints, I really think that this will achieve nothing at all. I had already politely complained to one of the charities about the numerous lack of returned calls, to be abruptly told that they always return calls and that I hadn't phoned in the first place!
Thanks again for your replies and I certainly will not be leaving anything to these two organisations.
On a separate note, I had a conversation yesterday with a neighbour who volunteers at The Donkey Sanctuary here in Devon. Would anybody care to guess at how much they have received in the last 12 months?
Andy
I'll go for tiny. £50,000
On the topic of charities being beneficiaries of wills. A friend related a story about an estate that exceeded the IHT threshold.
A single charity (one of the very high profile ones) was the main beneficiary and insisted that their figure was paid in its entirety. i.e. the other beneficiary (the family) were expected to pick up the entire tax bill. I'm not sure of the exact figures but the impression I was given, was that the charity were ruthless in their pursuit of the money.
Andy 308GTB said:
mkjess123 said:
Hi,
On a separate note, I had a conversation yesterday with a neighbour who volunteers at The Donkey Sanctuary here in Devon. Would anybody care to guess at how much they have received in the last 12 months?
Andy
It's either huge or it's tiny.On a separate note, I had a conversation yesterday with a neighbour who volunteers at The Donkey Sanctuary here in Devon. Would anybody care to guess at how much they have received in the last 12 months?
Andy
I'll go for tiny. £50,000
Zetec-S said:
Andy 308GTB said:
mkjess123 said:
Hi,
On a separate note, I had a conversation yesterday with a neighbour who volunteers at The Donkey Sanctuary here in Devon. Would anybody care to guess at how much they have received in the last 12 months?
Andy
It's either huge or it's tiny.On a separate note, I had a conversation yesterday with a neighbour who volunteers at The Donkey Sanctuary here in Devon. Would anybody care to guess at how much they have received in the last 12 months?
Andy
I'll go for tiny. £50,000
Income and expenditure
Data for financial year ending 31 December 2021
Total income:
£63,368,000
Donations and legacies £56.86m
Charitable activities £0
Other trading activities £4.15m
Investments £484.00k
Other £1.88m
Total expenditure:
£42,197,000
Edit...
I'm guessing it's a single benefactor.
Most Donkey Charities are nearer my guess.
https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.go...
Edited by Andy 308GTB on Thursday 13th July 10:37
Note that they needed £42m to keep operating. That's why donations are vital for them.We are leaving a good amount in our wills to the local animal sanctuary, rather than any of the larger animal charities. We regularly donate stuff to them (in fact I have a car load to take down later this morning) and they are always very grateful. They have my email address and I know by the time I get home, I will have an email from them thanking me for my donation.
Red9zero said:
We are leaving a good amount in our wills to the local animal sanctuary, rather than any of the larger animal charities. We regularly donate stuff to them (in fact I have a car load to take down later this morning) and they are always very grateful. They have my email address and I know by the time I get home, I will have an email from them thanking me for my donation.
Guessing based on posts you've made about where you're based - is that Holly Hedge by any chance?mkjess123 said:
Thanks again for your replies and I certainly will not be leaving anything to these two organisations.
The thing here is that you had the misfortune to deal with one or two people at the charity who weren't really up to the mark. But that shouldn't influence who you leave your money to - firstly because the cause is more important than a couple of staff, and secondly because they won't be there when your Estate is being sported out.£63,000,000 on some old donkeys - only in Britain eh! Put the donkeys in a stew and spend the money on NHS dentistry...
moorx said:
Red9zero said:
We are leaving a good amount in our wills to the local animal sanctuary, rather than any of the larger animal charities. We regularly donate stuff to them (in fact I have a car load to take down later this morning) and they are always very grateful. They have my email address and I know by the time I get home, I will have an email from them thanking me for my donation.
Guessing based on posts you've made about where you're based - is that Holly Hedge by any chance?Red9zero said:
moorx said:
Red9zero said:
We are leaving a good amount in our wills to the local animal sanctuary, rather than any of the larger animal charities. We regularly donate stuff to them (in fact I have a car load to take down later this morning) and they are always very grateful. They have my email address and I know by the time I get home, I will have an email from them thanking me for my donation.
Guessing based on posts you've made about where you're based - is that Holly Hedge by any chance?Gassing Station | All Creatures Great & Small | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff