Your legacy for St Anne's College
A guide to leaving a gift in your will
Your legacy for St Anne’s
From the Principal
I would like to ask you to consider leaving a legacy to
St Anne’s in your will.
Many St Anne’s Senior Members think of their time as
students as being something that remains with them long
after graduation. The way one thinks about the world is
deeply influenced by those short but intense years at
Oxford. In remembering your years at St Anne’s, I hope that
you might wish to help future generations of St Anne’s
students and support our scholarly values.
St Anne’s was founded to further intellectual opportunity.
It enabled women to study at Oxford. Our commitment to
emancipation now extends to offer students, regardless of
background, an experience that will transform their lives.
Our Fellowship has a reputation for original, ground
breaking research; they are equally committed as tutors to
their students. As public funding for university education is
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reduced, St Anne’s will need to be more self-reliant than
ever. The philanthropy of our Senior Members and friends
will be ever more important if we are to ensure our
continuing commitment to undergraduate teaching and
the College’s future.
By including St Anne’s in your will, you will allow us to
endow Fellowships, establish bursaries, and maintain and
improve our buildings.
I decided to make a bequest to St Anne’s because of what I
have experienced during my time as Principal – the way
our students stretch themselves in their years here and the
impact of our Fellows on the development of their minds. I
hope you will do the same.
Thank you on behalf of everyone at St Anne’s.
Leaving a gift in your will
How your gift can help
Leaving a gift to St Anne’s in your will
gives you the opportunity to make a
lasting impact and help to provide
vital funding for the College. You can
choose to support St Anne's by
leaving an unrestricted legacy which
can be used where the need is
greatest, or by specifying those
aspects of College life that reflect your
own interests and priorities.
Student Support and Access:
Help St Anne’s continue to admit
undergraduate students who have
academic potential and ensure that
geography, hardship or social
background are not barriers to them.
Our graduate students are the
professors of the future but external
funding for graduates is increasingly
hard to find. A gift in your will can
ensure funds are available for
bursaries and scholarships, helping St
Anne’s to teach and attract the best
minds irrespective of needs or means.
Teaching: Changes to government
funding mean that endowing
Fellowships is more important than
ever. A student’s time at St Anne’s is
shaped by the tutorial system. By
making a bequest you can help to
increase our endowment fund,
ensuring our financial independence,
securing our Fellowships, and
protecting the tutorial system.
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Your legacy for St Anne’s
How your gift can help
Our buildings: A gift in your will to
St Anne’s can help fund the
maintenance and construction of our
many different buildings - student
accommodation, our seminar rooms
and lecture theatres, the Library, the
Hall and Boathouse. The Ruth Deech
Building was completed in 2005;
it houses extensive teaching and
conference facilities and 113 ensuite
student rooms. This helps ensure that
future generations of students and
Fellows can live and work in an
environment which meets their needs,
and realise their full potential here.
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“The financial support offered by St
Anne's allowed me to receive the best
possible education. I feel very strongly
that I would not have been able to
study at Oxford without this help. The
bursary scheme made it possible for
me to study here without taking on a
job, leaving my time free for my
studies. I also benefited from a travel
grant in my second year, allowing me
to study geological structure in the
Balearics as part of my course.”
Emma Jude, Earth Sciences 2008
Leaving a gift in your will
How past gifts have helped
Legacy income is vital to St Anne’s. Of
£13.8 million received in gifts between
2001 and 2011, £5.3 million was in the
form of legacies. Generous bequests
have created opportunities for
students, helped to shape the College,
and supported its teaching and
research.
Student Support and Access:
Elizabeth Catherine Ashford-Russell
(Todd, Modern History 1945) left
£5,000 to the Marjorie Reeves
Memorial Fund, which supports
bursaries for St Anne’s
undergraduates. Mary Laurella
Matthews (Thomas, English 1947)
bequeathed £10,000 to be used at the
discretion of the College. Her gift was
assigned to the Student Support
Fund. These two gifts helped St Anne’s
to award five bursaries, allowing the
College to offer places to the best
applicants regardless of their financial
background.
Teaching: Hazel Eardley-Wilmot
(English 1923) left the residue of her
estate to College “with special regard
to its English Fellowship fund”. The
legacy had a value of £375,000; the
fund has now grown enough to
support fully the Fellowship in English
held first by Dr Ann Pasternak Slater
and since her retirement by Dr Freya
Johnston.
“I joined the
English School at
St Anne's in 2007.
The College is
unique in Oxford
in having four fulltime Fellows in the
subject; between
us, we cover the whole syllabus from
Old English to the present. I have
benefited in countless ways from the
live sense of intellectual community
here – an international community
that includes undergraduates,
graduates, visiting students and
lecturers, as well as the fellowship.”
Dr Freya Johnston, Hazel EardleyWilmot Fellow in English
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Your legacy for St Anne’s
How past gifts have helped
Infrastructure: A defining moment in
the history of the Society of Oxford
Home-Students, the predecessor of St
Anne’s, was a benefaction from Mrs
Amy Hartland, who in 1929
established a trust for the erection
and maintenance of the first purposebuilt College building. Construction
of Hartland House began in 1937.
On her death in 1945 she left the
whole of her estate to the Society and
an extension was built in 1952
(followed by an additional wing
in 1973).
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Leaving a gift in your will
Plumer Society
The Plumer Society was founded to
recognize and thank those who named
St Anne's in their will. The Society is
named in honour of Miss Plumer’s
enormous contribution to the College
in her lifetime and to celebrate her
bequest which is the core of our
support fund for postgraduates.
The Honorable Eleanor Plumer was
elected Principal of the Society of
Home-Students in 1940. Two years later
the Society was renamed St Anne’s
Society. In 1952, after tireless
campaigning, Eleanor Plumer oversaw
the Society’s transition to college status
and St Anne’s College, an independent
and close-knit community, was formed.
If you inform us that you have made a
bequest to St Anne’s, you will be eligible
to become a member of the Plumer
Society. As a member, you and a guest
will be invited to a Plumer Society event
held every other year. This allows us to
thank you for your commitment, and to
keep you up to date with the College’s
plans and to listen to your views.
As a member of the Plumer Society, you
will receive information on legal changes
likely to affect charitable legacies.
“Actions speak louder
than words.
My legacy is a loud
“Thank you” for
providing me with a
studious home-fromhome environment
as an undergraduate, for Mrs Nancy
Trenaman’s personal support and for
Dr Hazel Rossotti seeing ‘something
special’ in me at interview.”
Fiona C. Lunn, Metallurgy & Science
of Materials 1977
Principal of ‘Fiona Lunn Private Tutorials’
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Your legacy for St Anne’s
Recognizing your bequest
Wherever possible, St Anne’s would like
to acknowledge the generosity of
benefactors, and various options exist to
do so on receipt of funds. College may
choose to name Fellowships, bursaries,
scholarships, staircases, and rooms in
recognition of your gift and in
accordance with your wishes. The
Development Office will be pleased to
discuss options with you.
St Anne’s also recognizes members of
the Plumer Society in The Ship, the
annual College record.
If you would prefer your bequest to
remain confidential, St Anne’s will
respect and guarantee your anonymity.
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Please let the Development Office know if
you have already included St Anne’s in your
will by returning the pledge form which
you can find in the back of this brochure.
Knowing your intentions will assist the
College in its long-term planning.
"When I updated
my will, I decided
to leave my house
to St Anne’s
in return for the
advantages the
(then) Society of Oxford HomeStudents has given me. Proceeds from
the sale will be invested to provide
bursaries for students in need.”
Joan Monroe (Burgess), Modern
Languages 1941
"Coming from a
working class
background, I
want to give
others a chance of
benefitting from
the unique
opportunities for
success that St Anne’s undoubtedly
afforded me. Public funding
challenges make this even more
critical today so giving something
back by leaving a legacy was a very
easy decision."
Rob Munro, Physics 1982
Director of Business Transformation
at Regus
Leaving a gift in your will
Making a pledge
It is very important when making a will
to ensure that your wishes can be
carried out as you intend. Whichever
type of legacy you decide is right, it is
essential to seek advice from your
solicitor.
If you decide to leave a legacy to St
Anne’s, we would be grateful if you
could let us know by completing the
pledge form which you can find as a
supplement to this brochure.
A residuary (or percentage) legacy is a
gift of all or part of what is left of your
estate after settlement of all debts,
taxes, costs and other legacies. This
has the advantage of automatically
keeping up with inflation.
On page 11 a glossary of terms is listed
underneath the supplements.
A pecuniary (or monetary) legacy
involves leaving a specific sum of
money. You can arrange for the gift to
be increased in line with inflation.
The most common types of legacies
are:
A reversionary legacy reverts to a
second beneficiary when the original
beneficiary dies. This gift has the
advantage of providing for your family
first and then benefiting St Anne’s.
A substitutional legacy means that the
estate is left to a particular person but
that, if he/she predeceases you, then
the gift could go to St Anne’s.
A specific legacy is a particular item in
your will.
It is also possible to combine one or
more of the above.
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Your legacy for St Anne’s
Suggested wording for your will
For a Residuary Gift: “I give the whole or a percentage share of the residue of my estate to the Principal and Fellows of St Anne’s
College in the University of Oxford (Charity No. 1142660), to be used for its general charitable purposes or a specific project*
(
),
and I declare that the receipt of the Principal or other duly authorised officer shall be a full and sufficient discharge of my Executors”.
For a Cash Gift: “I give free of tax the sum of £
(in figures and words) to the Principal and Fellows of St Anne’s College in the University of Oxford (Charity No. 1142660), to be used for
its general charitable purposes or a specific project*
(
),
and I declare that the receipt of the Principal or other duly authorised officer shall be a full and sufficient discharge of my Executors”.
* Delete as appropriate
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Leaving a gift in your will
Glossary of terms
Beneficiary:
Bequest:
Codicil:
Estate:
Executor:
a person or charity who benefits from a gift in your will
a gift in your will
a “supplement” making a change or addition to your will
the total sum of all your possessions
a person charged with ensuring that your wishes
expressed in your will are carried out; executors can
also be beneficiaries
Inheritance tax:
Intestacy:
Legacy:
Legator:
Will:
Witness:
the tax levied on your estate if worth over a certain amount
dying without having left a will
a gift in your will
a person who leaves a legacy
a legal declaration of how a person wishes his or her
possessions to be disposed of after death
anyone who witnesses your signature on your will.
A witness cannot be a beneficiary
Photo credits:
Front cover left and front cover
right, p.3, p.9, p.10: Keith Barnes
P.4: Stephen Bradley P.6: Rob Judges
Back cover: John Cairns
Designed by McDermaid Design Ltd
Printed by Windrush Group
If you would like any further
information or if you wish to have
a confidential discussion with the
Development Director or Legacy
Officer, please do not hesitate to
get in touch with:
The Development Office
St Anne’s College
Oxford
OX2 6HS
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)1865 284622
Email: [email protected]
Your legacy for St Anne’s College
A guide to leaving a gift in your will