If you’re an executor for someone who’s left a gift in their Will to Guide Dogs, thank you so much for helping to fulfil their wishes. On this page you can find information about paying in a legacy, as well as frequently asked questions.
For legal advisors, you’ll find information about our registered charity details and suggested wording.
Being an executor can seem daunting, especially when it may already be a difficult time. Find out more about how to make the process easier, and how to pay in a gift. You may find one of our guides helpful. There are two versions - one for English law and one for Scottish law. Please do get in touch if you’d like a copy, or if you have any questions which aren’t answered here.
Please let us know when you have made a legacy payment by calling us on 0118 983 5555 or by sending an email to the Legacy Case team. To help us identify your payment and match it with the legacy, please let us know the full name of the person who has kindly left us a gift.
We accept the following methods of payment:
To make a BACS payment our bank account details are:
Barclays Bank
Sort code 20-65-82
Guide Dogs Account number 43870731.
Please make the cheque payable either to 'Guide Dogs' or 'The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association', and send it to our Reading Hub:
Guide Dogs
Hillfields
Burghfield Common
Reading
RG7 3YG
To help us identify your payment and match it with the legacy, please let us know on the back of the cheque, or in a covering letter, the full name of the person who has kindly left us a gift, as well as your name and address.
If you have any questions please contact our Legacy Case Team directly for advice.
Once your payment is made, we’ll be in touch to ask for any further information required, to give you a receipt, and thank you for the kind gift.
There’s lots of information on this site about how gifts in Wills are used and the life-changing impact they have – just take a look at our Inspiring Stories. We’d also be delighted to welcome you along to one of our Reception Days local to you, or we can arrange for you to visit one of our Training Schools, to see how the gift could be used.
Here you can find information, like our registered charity details, to help advise a client. Please get in touch if any questions you have aren’t answered here.
Guide Dogs is a working name of The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association. Registered Office: Hillfields, Burghfield Common, Reading, Berkshire RG7 3YG. A company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales (291646) and a charity registered in England and Wales (209617), Scotland (SC038979) and Isle of Man (1334).
Blind Children UK (BCUK), formerly The National Blind Children’s Society, became part of Guide Dogs in 2013 and continues to operate as company limited by guarantee in England and Wales (03133018), and as a charity registered in England and Wales (1051607) and Scotland (SCO42089).
We have suggested wording for people to use when leaving gifts:
A Residuary Gift (the remains of your estate after any specific gifts have been distributed, and any debts have been paid): “I give free of Inheritance Tax (…%) of the residue of my estate to The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association…”
A Pecuniary Gift (a specific sum): “I give free of Inheritance Tax the sum of... pounds to The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association…”
Then follow with: “…whose Registered Office is situated at Hillfields, Burghfield Common, Reading, Berkshire RG7 3YG (Registered Charity No. 209617 or SC038979 or 1334), for the general charitable purposes of the Association, and I declare that the receipt of an authorised official for the time being shall be a good discharge to my executors.”
For a pecuniary gift, your client may wish their gift to be adjusted for inflation; please add in the suitable wording.
As gifts in Wills are so important to Guide Dogs, we like to understand why your client chose to support us in this way or what prompted the kind gift.
We ask you to pass on a thank you letter to the Next of Kin, so that we can thank them personally for their loved one’s gift, and show them the impact it could have for people with sight loss. We also like to offer a visit to one of our Training Schools to see the work Guide Dogs does.
Yes, they can. The cost of supporting a guide dog through its lifetime is currently around £102,000, or £77,000 to breed, raise and train, so we appreciate any support towards this. Your client will need to make the specific statement in their Will, and we ask for a gift of £5,000 to Name a Puppy. This reflects the cost of putting one dog through its first fourteen months of puppy walking until it goes to Training School. When we receive a gift like this, we name the puppy and send regular updates on the puppy’s progress to the nominated Next of Kin or friend. We ask that there are three suggested puppy names written in the Will and we’ll try to use your client’s first preference where possible.
Please remember that if your client leaves a specific gift, its value will reduce over time, so they may want to consider index linking the gift.
Our Gifts in Wills Guide shows the impact gifts in Wills have for people with sight loss, not just through our guide dogs, but also our other services available for children and young people.
If your client leaves a gift in their Will to Guide Dogs, please do ask them to let us know if they’re happy to. We’ll then be able to thank them and keep them up to date with our work.
Yes, we’d be delighted to welcome your client along to one of our Reception Days, which run across the UK throughout the year.