ALEXIS ESCAVY - Greenpeace
Before Greenpeace started working with Bequest Assist, I was spending far too much of my time on estate administration. I am a fundraiser, my specialty is working with people and inspiring our supporters, not dealing with solicitors and lawyers.
Complex matters involving estate taxation, including Present Entitlements and Gifting In Specie can be difficult to understand for the lay person and it was stressful making sure our legal entitlements were being properly considered.
I heard about Bequest Assist at the FIA conference in Brisbane 2020. I’d been waiting for this kind of service, which is very common in Europe and UK, to be available in Australia —so I instantly contacted Maureen.
Straightaway she was able to deal with very complicated matters involving the ins and outs of the legal system and keeping solicitors accountable. Her knowledge of estate taxation, her careful analyses of probate documents and final statements, sometimes finding mistakes, resulted in significantly optimising distributions. Her process also provides a much better way to forecast income accurately, as opposed to using ballpark figures, which has been very helpful on monthly basis.
As a result, we are ensured that the organisation is represented in a way that they can receive the bequest that was intended by the supporter and we can be sure that our supporters’ last wishes are actually being fulfilled and the money they wanted to go to the cause, is actually going to the cause.
Because I am so confident our estates are being carefully and efficiently tended to, I’ve freed up so much headspace to do a lot more acquisition and stewardship; To build relationships with more donors. To spend time bringing more people into the pipeline. To think more about strategies. To develop a better digital marketing campaign.
It really is a great thing that Bequest Assist is doing — lifting the whole sector's knowledge around estate management, not just for Gifts in Wills managers, but also for solicitors and trustees by diligently managing charity bequests — That's the unseen work.