Make a lasting difference with a gift in your Will
Provide long-term protection for our nation’s treasured buildings and places for future generations to enjoy.
How can a gift in my Will help?
Your donation could:
- train professionals in much-needed traditional construction techniques to preserve historic buildings
- provide emergency funding for ‘at risk’ buildings and give them a sustainable future
- protect the historic environment from the climate crisis, and help us find new solutions for adapting older buildings
- educate more children about the value of their country’s heritage
Is it complicated to make a Will?
Making a Will doesn’t need to be expensive or complicated. Although you can make a Will yourself, we recommend seeking the advice of a solicitor to make sure your Will is correct and free from errors.
Please remember that gifts in Wills left to registered charities are exempt from inheritance tax.
Can I choose how my gift is used?
Your Will can specify any area of Historic England’s work for the donation. However, our priorities and needs will change over time, so gifts are more useful if they have fewer ties and restrictions.
If you would like to support a particular area of our work, it is best to keep the wording as general as possible to make sure we can use your gift most effectively when the time comes.
Please contact us if you would like us to check the wording of your donation.
Can I leave an item to The Historic England Foundation?
We welcome gifts of objects to The Historic England Archive that fill gaps in our holdings or significantly enhance what we already hold.
You can find out more about which collections Historic England can accept and how you could contribute on their website.
Please contact us to discuss this, so that we can ensure your donation meets Historic England's collecting criteria and that it can be accepted into the archive.
You can also leave items of value, such as property, to the Foundation, on the understanding that we may sell them to raise funds to support projects that protect England’s heritage.
Wording for Your Will
Although you can make a Will yourself, we recommend seeking the advice of a solicitor who can make sure your Will is correct and free from errors.
You might find this wording helpful:
A specific amount (a pecuniary gift):
‘I bequeath to The Historic England Foundation (‘The Foundation’) of 4th Floor, Cannon Bridge House, 25 Dowgate Hill, London EC4R 2YA, Registered Charity No. 1178368, the sum of £... to be used by The Foundation at its absolute discretion.’
A proportion of your estate (a residual gift):
‘I give (a share, for example one half/one third, etc.) of the residue of my estate to The Historic England Foundation (‘The Foundation’) of 4th Floor, Cannon Bridge House, 25 Dowgate Hill, London EC4R 2YA, Registered Charity No. 1178368, to be used by The Foundation at its absolute discretion.’
If this wording is not suitable for what you require, do not hesitate to contact us.
If you have already made The Foundation a beneficiary of your Will you do not have to tell us, however we would very much like to thank you and keep you involved with our work.