Supporting the Gunmakers’ Company Charitable Trust
Any financial support which you give to the Trust will support our core aims of supporting bursaries and a small number of other causes relating to gun making and some other aligned entities in the City of London.
The Gunmakers’ Company Charitable Trust was established by the Worshipful Company of Gunmakers in 2003 to:
- To promote, for the public benefit, the improvement of tangible and intangible craft and technical skills employed in the gun and allied trades and in associated crafts, by the provision of scholarships for the advancement of education of persons involved in
these trades and crafts; - To relieve individuals connected to the Worshipful Company of Gunmakers and their families, who are in need by the provision of grants;
- To provide grants for any charitable purposes connected with the making, usage, conservation and curatorship of guns;
- To provide grants for charitable purposes connected with the City of London or other places in which the Worshipful Company of Gunmakers is situated.
You can give either by making a donation or by leaving us a legacy.
Donations
We are very grateful for any sum of money which you give to the Trust and especially welcome regular donations.
To make a donation please click the Donate button above and follow the simple on-screen instructions.
Leaving us a Legacy
Remembering the Trust in your Will is a simple and very practical way that you can support the work which we do. Importantly, the Government offers very tax-efficient ways to do this.
There are three main ways in which you can remember us in your Will
A Residuary Bequest or Gift: This means you leave a percentage of your Estate after provision for other beneficiaries and all your other gifts and debts have been paid. It is easy to add this into an existing Will without interfering with any specific sums you have put in place for family or friends. It also has the advantage that the value will not be eroded by inflation over the years.
A Pecuniary Bequest/Gift: In this case, you decide on a specific sum of money that you would like to leave to the GCCT.
A Specific Bequest: You may have a valuable item in mind that you would like to give to us. It is important that you know that we might not be able to keep that item or any shares without prior agreement. We will need either your consent or the consent of your Executor to sell any items you leave to us and to use the money raised for our work.
Your legacy can either be Unrestricted (which means that you do not restrict how the Trust spends your legacy) or Restricted (which means that you require that we use your legacy gift for a specific part of our work). In the latter case, it would be sensible to discuss any restriction you would like with the Secretary before amending your Will.
Whilst you are under no obligation to tell us you have left us a Legacy it would help our long term financial planning if you do so.
Tax Issues
The value of your legacy gift could be quadrupled thanks to the Government’s Inheritance Tax (IHT) rules. If you leave 10% of your Estate (after deducting IHT exemptions, including the nil rate band) to charitable causes (which does not have to be a single charity), the remainder of your Estate will be subject to a reduced rate of IHT. Currently, the reduced rate is 36% compared to the normal level of 40%.
In practice, this means that the Trust will receive a considerably larger donation than the actual cost to your estate. The table illustrates how, in straightforward cases, IHT works in practice on an Estate of £500,000.
| Without donation | With donation | |
|---|---|---|
| Estate value | £500,000 | £500,000 |
| Less nil rate band | -£325,000 | -£325,000 |
| Net estate | £175,000 | £175,000 |
| Less donation | £0 | -£17,500 (ie 10%) |
| Taxable estate | £175,000 | £157,500 |
| Less Inheritance Tax | -£70,000 (@40%) | -£56,700 (@36%) |
| Remaining estate | £430,000 | £425,800 |
| Cost to estate | 0 | £4,200 |
| Charity receives | 0 | £17,500 |
The net result of a 10% donation is that the other beneficiaries of your Estate’s forego only £4,200, but your chosen charities receive £17,500. In other words, the benefit to charitable causes is four times greater than the cost to your Estate.
Any size of legacy will make a significant difference to the work we can do.
Other Tax Benefits
In addition to the 10% Inheritance Tax benefit, depending on your circumstances, there are other ways in which your charitable giving can be tax efficient for your beneficiaries.
For example, a legacy gift through a residual pension, if you have one, can be advantageous to your Estate. You should seek professional advice on your individual situation first and then contact the Secretary to the Trustees.
THE WORSHIPFUL COMPANY OF GUNMAKERS
The Gunmakers Company Charitable Trust is the charitable arm of the Worshipful Company of Gunmakers which was incorporated by Royal Charter in 1637 to promote and regulate gunmaking, a role it still fulfils today.