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Legacies

Legacies – the best way you can invest in the Horniman’s future and make an essential contribution to funding our work.

The Horniman is a charity. One of the most valuable ways you can support us is by remembering us in your will.
 
Legacy giving plays an important part in our funding and it isn’t only for the very wealthy – a legacy of any size will play a vital part in supporting the Horniman’s ongoing work: caring for our world-class collections and maintaining our beautiful, award-winning Gardens.

My aunt, Gillian, left a legacy to the Horniman Museum and Gardens so others could enjoy the gardens, exhibits, events and views over London that she so enjoyed throughout her lifetime with friends and family.
Colin, Hertfordshire
 
A legacy of £1,000 would pay for the spring bedding in our Gardens

Where your legacy can go

Legacies are most useful when they are left to our general work – which means we can use them where the need is greatest. This could be anything from preparing a new exhibition to feeding the fish in the Aquarium!

However, we understand that you may like to leave your legacy to the area of the Museum or Gardens you enjoy the most. It is possible to align your gift to the following areas of our work:

  • The development of our permanent collections
  • The care of our living collections, such as our Aquarium and our animals
  • The management of our 16 ½ acres of Gardens

If you had a more specific area in mind, or would like advice on the wording, please speak to our Development team. Our collections do change over time and very specific conditions attached to a legacy may mean we are unable to spend your gift.

A legacy of £500 would pay for the annual clean of our Apostle Clock, to keep it in good working order.

Thinking of leaving an object? Talk to us first!

Museums are left objects they don’t need more often than you might think. So, if you are considering leaving an object to the Horniman, please speak to us first – we will need to discuss with our curators how the items might fit into our collections. 

 

Thanks to the Art Fund we were able to aquire an 18th century double manual Kirckman harpsichord. A legacy of £10,000 would enable us to restore this rare instrument to playing order.

Tax benefits for your family

The Horniman is a charity, so legacies made to us are exempt from inheritance tax. Plus, from April 2012, if you decide to leave 10% or more of your estate to charity, you will benefit from a 10% reduction in inheritance tax.  Currently inheritance tax is payble at 40% on estates of over £325,000 (tax year 2012-13), so this would drop to 36% if you left 10% or more of your estate to charity.
 
For more information on leaving a legacy and to see how the changes to Inheritance Tax have made it more attractive to support charities through legacy giving, please visit the Legacy10 website by clicking on the image below.



legacy 10
 

What to do next

If you have decided that a legacy is a way you’d like to help the Horniman’s work, the next thing to do is make sure you mention this to your solicitor when you are writing – or amending – your will. For more information about the various types of legacy and suggested wording for your will, please download our legacy pack and take it with you when you see your solicitor.

 

Thank you!

Thank you if you are considering leaving the Horniman a legacy. Whether you do it tomorrow or in six months time it will be a treasured gift which will make a great difference to our work.

And if you have already remembered the Horniman in your will, thank you too! Do let us know - we would love to keep you in touch with our work through our Behind-the-Scenes evenings, Private Views and other special events we hold for our closer contacts and supporters.

My wife and I have spent many happy hours at the Horniman Museum and Gardens. We included a bequest to the Horniman when we wrote our wills so that they could give pleasure to others after we’ve gone.

Steve, Honor Oak

Any Questions?

If you are interested in leaving a legacy to the Horniman but are uncertain what to do next, talk to us!
 
Please contact Marcus Pugh or Jenny Seymour in the Development Team, on development@horniman.ac.uk or 020 8291 8699, who would be pleased to help.