Create a bequest

Your gift will help create a better future

What to support?
What kind of gift?
Preparing your will
Contact us

What would you like to support?

Support specific areas

If you wish to make a bequest to a specific area - such as a particular type of research or scholarship - we strongly encourage you to contact our Bequests team to discuss your plans, in complete confidence. This will give you an opportunity to confirm that the University will be in a position to accept your bequest, and, most importantly, to honour your wishes in how it handles your bequest.

Support areas of greatest need

Alternatively, you might wish to support future students and research through a general bequest. Rather than designating a specific area that your bequest is to support, a general bequest is without limitations as to use. This will allow the University in the future, as circumstances change, to direct funds to areas of greatest need. This ensures that your generosity would continue to have a real and lasting impact, even if circumstances in the future change dramatically.

Support what matters to you

Innovation and research

Contribute to research and resolving future real-world challenges.

Scholarships & access programs

Help students achieve their academic aspirations.

Academic leadership

Attract and develop our future global leaders.

State-of-the-art facilities

Provide world class environments for education and research.

What type of gift would you like to leave?

There is a number of ways to structure your gift, depending on your preferences and circumstances. We encourage you to discuss these options with your legal adviser.

Residual bequest

A residual bequest is the remainder of your estate (or percentage of the remainder), after deducting all debts, charges and any specific gifts. Residual bequests maintain their relative value over time and automatically adjust to the value of your estate.

Commonly used phrases to express this type of gift include "I give the residue of my estate to…" or "I give 10% of the residue of my estate to…".

Fixed amount

A fixed amount or set-value bequest means a gift expressed as a specific sum of money. As most wills are written many years in advance, fixed amount bequests may include an "inflation clause", which will operate to preserve the relative value of the gift over time.

Gift-in-kind

Gifts are not always financial. They can also take the form of property, shares or a collection of books or artwork, in which case the bequest is treated as a "gift-in-kind" or a "non-monetary" bequest in the first instance.

If you are considering leaving a non-monetary bequest, please reach out to our Bequests team. Our discussion with you will be in complete confidence, and is particularly important in this case. Depending on the nature of the gift, we may seek confidential guidance from the University Archives, the Library, Treasury & Investments, or the curator of the appropriate artwork collection. This is to ensure the University in a position to accept the gift and honour your wishes for it, which is always our first priority.

Endowed gift

You may wish to consider if you have any preferences regarding the length of time over which your gift would be spent.

A 'non-endowed gift' would be spent year-to-year, until it is fully depleted.

An 'endowed gift' means that your bequest would be invested in our Long Term Investment Pool, in accordance with the UWA Senate Investment Policy. That capital amount would then provide a certain level of investment income each year, which would be spent in accordance with your wishes. The capital would not be directly spent down, so this type of arrangement is usually referred to as "perpetual", meaning that it could technically last forever (financial performance permitting).

The decision on whether to endow a gift depends on a number of factors, including the stated purpose of the gift, and its monetary value. Certain gifts could provide a long-term impact spread out over many years, while other gifts might make the most meaningful impact if they are utilised over a shorter period.

We encourage you to discuss this with our Bequests team.

What do you need to include in your will?

Preparing a will is an important milestone for all of us. This is why we encourage you to speak to a legal practitioner experienced in preparing testamentary documents. They will be able to advise you on your specific circumstances, including whether you might need to prepare a new will, or if a codicil to your existing will would suffice. UWA is not able to give legal advice or help with preparing your will.

However, we can provide you with some suggested phrasing for your will, to reflect the type of bequest you may wish to leave - for more information, please contact us at bequests@uwa.edu.au.

How can we help?

If you have any questions, or would like to discuss your intentions in complete confidence, please reach out to the UWA Bequests team

Phone

Get in touch

(+61 8) 6488 3843

Email

Send an enquiry

bequests@uwa.edu.au

Location

Find us on campus

Office of Development and Alumni Relations