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Cancer Research UK Free Will Service

We have put together some key information regarding Cancer Research UK and the Free Will Service in order to support your conversations with our supporters. We hope you find this useful to enrich your dialogue with clients.

Highlights from Cancer Research UK’s history of life-saving research and campaigning

Cancer Research UK’s research has played a role in developing 8 of the world’s top 10 cancer drugs. Over the last 40 years Cancer Research UK’s work has helped double breast cancer survival. Cancer Research UK was a key player in the development of radiotherapy, which now benefits more than 130,000 patients every year in the UK.

The types of gifts that supporters leave to Cancer Research UK in their Will

Gifts in Wills are vital to what we do because they enable long-term research projects to develop new treatments that could save lives for generations to come. We are grateful for any gifts in Wills from supporters, we would encourage conversations around what they can give and which types of gifts are appropriate for each supporter.

Residuary Gift

This type of gift is the most beneficial to Cancer Research UK as it’s a percentage of an estate, so will retain its value and won’t be affected by inflation. It can also grow over a lifetime i.e. if a supporter leaves a 5% gift aged 25, the gift will grow alongside their net worth. We would encourage residuary gifts to be first point of discussion with clients, if they are interested in supporting Cancer Research UK in this way.

Pecuniary Gift

We receive pecuniary gifts of all values, so we would suggest discussing with the client what an appropriate amount might be for them. There are some examples below of what different amounts can cover. Whilst we pay a fixed fee of £100 + VAT for the Free Will Service, the total cost to Cancer Research UK of offering the service is significantly higher than this and so we would suggest this is considered when discussing the value of a pecuniary gift.

Index-linked Pecuniary Gift

We tend not to receive many index linked pecuniary gifts; we believe this is due to lack of awareness of this type of gift. We can accept these and they are valuable to Cancer Research UK as they are protected against inflation eroding the value of the gift.

Specific Gift

We receive all manner of specific gifts, some of which are hugely valuable. Recent examples include a Cartier ring worth c. £100k and a classic car worth £150k. We are able to use our knowledge, expertise and contacts to maximise the value of specific gifts.

How gifts in Wills make a difference

Gifts in Wills fund over a third of Cancer Research UK’s life saving work and help us to accelerate the pace of progress towards saving more lives. Here are some examples of what different types of gifts can fund:

2% of a £200,000

estate could buy a diamond knife to slice through cells to understand the inner workings
of tumours and find new ways to target cancer’s weak spots.

£7,000

could fund our Add Aspirin clinical trial into stopping cancer coming back after treatment for one week.

£15,000

could fund the PETReA trial, which aims to help doctors decide how to treat lymphoma, for 1 month.

20% of a £400,000

estate could fund our researchers’ work into uncovering the relationship between ageing and cancer for a whole year.

Marketing and Cancer Research UK’s Supporter Journey

We think it’s important to let our supporters know how their money is being spent and to say thank you for their generosity. We send information to individuals who have supported us to say thank you and, if they have opted in, provide updates on our work.

We therefore hope that you are able to have a conversation with your clients to understand if and how they would like to hear from Cancer Research UK.

Some supporters may already be opted in to communications from Cancer Research UK. If they choose to opt out when using the Free Will Service, they could lose any communications they currently receive.

Other Terms and Conditions

A reminder that users of the Free Will Service are limited to three free Will writing consultations under the scheme. This includes new Wills and changes to existing Wills, so please do check with your client to avoid overuse of the service. If you have any questions regarding Cancer Research UK and the Free Will Service, please contact your Legacy Partnership Manager.