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From End-of-Life Planning to BequestsThe Nippon Foundation establishes support center Completely free, can meet any request
In response to growing interest in “end-of-life” planning, The Nippon Foundation conducted a survey and found that close to 60% of women think about their end-of-life plans. At the same time, however, it was clear that there is a shortage of people and places where they can easily consult on these matters. In response, The Nippon Foundation held a press conference on March 31 to announce the opening on April 1 of a support center that can provide consultation on end-of-life issues, including bequests to designated individuals or organizations, and that is completely free to use.
At the press conference, Yohei Sasakawa, Chairman of The Nippon Foundation, expressed his hope that “people without relatives, or people who have relatives but want to make a donation as their final act, will thoroughly discuss these matters and give back to society in a useful way.
The Foundation’s Ryuji Hasegawa went on to explain how the support center would operate. Creating a will is the only way by which a person can bequest property to a person or organization other than their legally designated heirs. Each year more and more people consult with The Nippon Foundation regarding bequests, and in 2015 the number of people approaching the Foundation reached 181. Questions include topics like how to write a will and how to know whether the organization to which they want to make a donation is reliable.
To date, The Nippon Foundation has helped with the preparation of 13 wills, of which three included bequests totaling roughly 247 million yen. One anonymous donor, a woman who died at the age of 69, donated a time deposit in the amount of 150 million yen with the request that it be used for poor children around the world. As a result, this bequest was used to build a residential facility for intellectually disabled children in Myanmar.
The main features of the support center are the following:
- The money will be used in the field requested by the donor.
- No fees are involved.
- Inheritance tax is not applied.
- Real estate can be donated as well as money.
The support center will initially have a staff of eight people, assisted by a lawyer acting as an advisor to the The Nippon Foundation. The plan for fiscal 2016 is to handle 1,500 consultations.
The Nippon Foundation conducted an Internet survey nationwide, questioning 1,252 men and 1,269 women over the age of 40. In response to the question of how they want to spend the end of their lives, the most common response, at 35.2%, was “I want to make preparations early so that my family won’t need to care for me.” There was also a large difference between the sexes, with 43.7% of women giving this response compared with 26.6% of men.
When asked about their intentions regarding bequests, a combined 30.9% gave the positive answers of either “I want to make a bequest” or “I am interested and want to know more about making a bequest.” In particular, 50.6% of single women gave one of these replies, as well as 36.9% of single men, indicating that single people have a higher inclination toward making a bequest than people with families.
When the people who gave these positive replies were asked what purpose or use they would want for their bequest, the top answer was “educational support for children living in poverty” at 39.4%, followed by “support for seriously ill children and their families” at 37.8%, and “support for emergency relief and reconstruction following a disaster” at 30.4%. Next, when asked what type of organization to which they would want to make their bequest, the largest number, at 49.7%, replied “an organization that will use the bequest according to my wishes,” followed by “an organization with social significance” at 35.1%, and “an organization that is well managed and can be trusted in the future” at 25.4%.
Contact
Communications Department
The Nippon Foundation
