Chayanika’s Story – Part 2: “I want to make a difference”
“Wherever you are in your life journey, now is always the right time to start thinking about how your actions today can make a difference tomorrow.”
Sharing the first part of my legacy-giving story a few weeks ago really helped to put things into perspective for me. Wherever you are in your life journey, now is always the right time to start thinking about how your actions today can make a difference tomorrow. OrKidstra’s mission of social change through music is so meaningful to me. Although none of us have all the answers right now, I’m proud that my family and I have moved forward with adding OrKidstra to our legacy plans!
After a few weeks of discussions with my husband and chatting with some professional advisors, I am ready to share some of my findings. One of the things I learned during this process is that there is not just one way to leave a legacy gift to a charity – we decided on what made the most sense for our family situation and preferences. You may come to a different conclusion, and that’s great! There is likely a method that will work for everyone.
“One of the things I learned during this process is that there is not just one way to leave a legacy gift to a charity.”
I first wanted to decide what financial ‘tool’ we would use to make this donation. Instead of adding a charity to my Will, we decided to use one of my existing life insurance policies for the gift. The most common use for life insurance policies is to provide financial security to families in the event of premature death, but they are also used for intergenerational wealth transfer and charitable giving. It felt easier to do it this way as I just needed to add OrKidstra as a beneficiary to an existing policy and then list the amount we wanted to donate. We also decided to give a set amount of money, not a percentage of our estate, as this was a more straightforward approach.
“It is good to know that wills and life insurance policies can be amended anytime. Nothing we’ve done is written in stone.”
The rest of my questions concerned the uncertainty of the future. What if a charity no longer exists? What if we wanted to change the amount given? It is good to know that wills and life insurance policies can be amended anytime. Nothing we’ve done is written in stone. While we don’t anticipate changing our minds, and I genuinely believe that OrKidstra will be around for many, many years to come, the flexibility to amend amounts or add other charities makes the decision less stressful. For now, OrKidstra is the only charity we will be donating to in this way, but if we have different ideas or plans in the future, we can revisit and amend our policy to reflect them. The most important thing for us at this time was to get OrKidstra added!
“I hope sharing my experience inspires and excites some of you to explore the options for leaving a legacy of your own.”
Overall, I found the process of leaving a legacy gift meaningful and relatively simple. There was little reason for me to have even put it off this long! I hope sharing my experience inspires and excites some of you to explore the options for leaving a legacy of your own.
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey.
Chayanika Abeysekera Lutes, OrKidstra Board Member
