Maggie Kudirka had been thinking about setting up a will for a while when she learned about BCRF’s partnership with FreeWill, a free online service that helps people create legal wills. As someone living with metastatic breast cancer, she wanted to lessen her family’s stress by ensuring they knew her wishes at the end of her life.
It was also important to Maggie that she support breast cancer research, so she made a charitable bequest to BCRF on FreeWill.
“BCRF has already helped me in so many ways by funding research that led to some of the drugs and treatments I’ve been on,” Maggie said. “I wanted to give back as a thank you for all the Foundation has done and will continue to do.”
When you make a bequest to charity like Maggie did, you leave a gift in your will or living trust that costs you nothing in your lifetime—but can make a tremendous impact for generations.
Thanks to research, deaths from breast cancer have declined by 40 percent since our founding nearly three decades ago. Today, BCRF supports a global cohort of 275 researchers advancing our lifesaving mission. Our investigators have been involved in every major breakthrough, and we know that new scientific innovations are within reach to better treat, prevent, and ultimately end breast cancer.
Breakthroughs can take time. At BCRF, we often fund our best-in-class researchers and their projects for years. Our model gives scientists and their teams the flexibility and security to take risks and pursue bold ideas. By generously including BCRF in your estate plans through a charitable bequest, you help us support our researchers’ future work. You fuel critical discoveries that will improve outcomes and save lives for generations to come.
Leaving a bequest to charity is a flexible process with several options to consider: You can designate a specific dollar amount or a percentage of your assets to give. You can also leave specific assets or what’s left of your estate after making other asset dispositions.
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If you already have a will and would like to add in a bequest to BCRF, you can start with this sample, non-binding language and take it to your estate attorney:
I give to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, located in New York, NY, federal tax identification number 13-3727250, ________% of my total estate (or $_____).
Need to make a will and bequest from scratch? To make this process easy, BCRF has partnered with FreeWill, a free online tool that allows you to write a will and designate how much you want to bequeath to BCRF. FreeWill then guides you through the process of making your will legally valid, according to federal and state laws. Get started here.
“The hardest part was deciding what I wanted to do,” Maggie said about the process of creating her will on the website. “But it was straight-forward and easy to understand otherwise.”
Those with more complicated estates, or who plan to draft their wills with an attorney, can still take advantage of BCRF’s partnership with FreeWill to create a set of wishes to hand to your lawyer as a starting point—or to just get thinking about your end-of-life plans.
Those who include BCRF in their estate plans and enable us to fund groundbreaking research for years to come will be welcomed into our Evelyn H. Lauder Legacy Society, named in honor of our late founder.
Supporters who document a legacy gift of $250,000 or more in their estate plans are recognized as members of the Catalyst Circle. Additionally, donors who confirm their support at this level before December 31, 2021 will be designated as founding members of the Catalyst Circle.
Both Evelyn H. Lauder Legacy Society and Catalyst Circle members receive exclusive benefits, including research updates, event invitations, and special recognition online and in BCRF reports, if the donor chooses.
If you’ve made a charitable bequest or other legacy gift to BCRF, we are grateful for your support. We would appreciate the opportunity to personally thank you and welcome you to the Evelyn H. Lauder Legacy Society or Catalyst Circle. Please complete this form online, print and mail this form, or contact Amanda Johnson at (646) 497-2680 or legacy@bcrf.org.
Please remember BCRF in your will planning. Learn More
