Leave a Legacy Month is an important time to highlight the power of legacy giving on charities, schools and organizations. As part of our Spotlight Series, we want to shine a light on organizations that are doing incredible work during COVID-19.
Women's College Hospital Foundation
Women’s College Hospital Foundation works with a community of over 39,000 individuals, corporations and foundations to support the highest priority needs of Women’s College Hospital. The foundation works to close critical health gaps for women and create a more equitable healthcare system through patient care, research, education and innovation.
In response to COVID-19, Women’s College Hospital Foundation has created an emergency fund to help support the hospital’s frontline workers and the hospital’s highest priority needs that are not covered by government funding.
In honour of Leave a Legacy Month, Leigh Naturkach, Senior Director at Women’s College Hospital Foundation, answered some questions for us about legacy and the impact of charitable gifts for Women’s College Hospital Foundation.
“What does legacy mean to you?”
“Legacy can be a number of things, and it’s never too early to start thinking about it. It is the accumulation of the presence a person holds every day, and acts a person participates in every day, throughout their lives that lead to a whole picture – things big and small, and sometimes complex. We are not only one memory or act, we are unique human beings who want to be remembered in all of our humanity. I like to think of the often quoted Maya Angelou, ‘I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.’”
“What is the best way for someone to help your organization?”
"People can help by having the courage to care – and this can take many forms. People can share their healthcare story, they can share and amplify the work of Women’s College Hospital. People can invest their dollars in Women's College Hospital to help revolutionize healthcare for women and pursue equity for all. This can be through undesignated funds to support the most urgent needs of the hospital, a specific area meaningful to them, or leaving a legacy in their Will to ensure a healthy healthcare system for future generations."
“How do donations/legacy gifts impact your organization?”
"Generous gifts to Women’s College Hospital Foundation help to revolutionize healthcare for women and pursue equity for all. Donations are not only necessary to improve patient outcomes, experience, and save costs to the healthcare system, but to invest in Women’s College Hospital’s unique mandate to evaluate, spread and scale health system solutions to raise the bar and improve healthcare for everyone beyond its walls."
While Leave a Legacy Month raises awareness about the importance of leaving a gift to a charity in your will, this year it’s also a special reminder to give back where we can to help charities and organizations with their immediate needs - whether it’s by donating your time, resources or money. We write our legacy each and every day through acts of kindness and generosity.
If you have “making a will” on your to-do list, use promo code LEGACY20 to save $20 on any Willful plan during Leave a Legacy Month. If you are a frontline healthcare worker who is risking your own health and safety during COVID-19, we want to help: we’re giving away free Willful plans to the frontline across Canada until May 31st. Thank you to the heroes who are caring for people across Canada. Our mission at Willful is to protect Canadian families, and you’re doing that every day. We hope this is one small way we can help.
Help support the Women’s College Hospital COVID-19 Response fund by making a donation.
