By bestowing a gift to The Royal Society of Musicians in your will, you are helping musicians across the UK to continue doing what they love, making music. Your support will continue the tradition began in 1738 of helping musicians in their time of need, which has allowed the musical life of Great Britain to flourish for centuries, and with your help, into the future.

A gift in your will is a personal decision that you will want to discuss with friends and family. If you wish to leave a gift to The Royal Society of Musicians, read on for some helpful information about how to do so.

Please contact us on [email protected] or 020 7629 6137, if you have any questions.

Writing a will

If you have not written a will, it’s never too early to think about it. You can ask a solicitor to help you, or a professional will writer. The Law Society can help you find a local legal firm to help, or a professional will writer can be found via The Institute of Professional Will Writers.

Make a list of who you want to remember in your will and how. You will need an idea of what your estate consists of to help you work out your assets and debts, so you can understand its extent. Remember to consider property, cash, savings, shares, pension funds, loans and other debts.

What to leave

Any gift to The Royal Society of Musicians will make a real difference. You can leave money, property or specific items. You can even leave a musical instrument or royalties to a piece of music in your name.

There are three main types of legacy – pecuniary, specific, and residuary.

• Pecuniary: A gift of a fixed sum of money.
• Specific: A gift of a named item, such as a musical instrument, a building, painting or royalties.
• Residuary: A gift of the residue (or a share of the residue) of your estate once all other legacies, debts, taxes and expenses have been deducted.

Your solicitor or will writer can help you to make sense of these terms and ensure that your will is worded correctly.

Leaving royalties

Ever since Vaughan Williams’ Serenade to Music, composed in 1938 for the Henry Wood Jubilee Concert, members and supporters of the Society have generously left us their royalties as a lasting memorial.

If you receive royalties or copyright payments, you can gift these to the Society in your will. By leaving your royalties as a legacy you are giving us a gift that could last for 70 years. As a legacy, royalty payments given to us will be exempt from Inheritance Tax. We suggest you contact your royalty company about how to do this. The MU, PPL (for performers) and PRS for Music (for composers and songwriters) each collect royalties on behalf of musicians.

Listen here to some of the music for which we receive royalties. Every stream earns us funds to help musicians in need.

Leaving a musical instrument

The Society retains shares in six high-quality stringed instruments which are loaned to talented musicians through our Fine Instrument Scheme. Through the generosity of their owners, we have also been able to broker the loans of other instruments to professional musicians who would otherwise not be able to gain access to such instruments and we are delighted that Members continue generously to bequeath their precious instruments to the Society for this purpose. We welcome further bequests which will enable the Society’s portfolio to continue to develop over the coming years. Please contact us if you have an instrument that you would like to give the Society in your will.

Information to include

To leave a gift to The Royal Society of Musicians please make sure you give your solicitor the following details:

• Our full charity name: The Royal Society of Musicians of Great Britain
• Our address: 26 Fitzroy Square, London W1T 6BT
• Our registered charity number: 208879
• The type of gift you wish to leave and the details of specific or pecuniary gifts.

Your solicitor can use the following wording when making your gift:

Pecuniary legacy

• I give the sum of £____ free from all tax or duty to The Royal Society of Musicians of Great Britain (registered charity number 208879) of 26 Fitzroy Square, London W1T 6BT.
• I direct that the receipt of the duly authorised officer of the Royal Society of Musicians of Great Britain shall be a sufficient discharge for my executor/trustees.

Specific legacy

• I give my [short description of property given] free of all tax or duty to The Royal Society of Musicians of Great Britain (registered charity number 208879) of 26 Fitzroy Square, London W1T 6BT.
• I direct that the receipt of the duly authorised officer of the Royal Society of Musicians of Great Britain shall be a sufficient discharge for my executor/trustees.

Residuary legacy

• I give [the whole of / ___% of] my real and personal property not hereby or by any codicil hereto specifically disposed of after payment of my debts, pecuniary legacies, funeral and administration expenses and any tax or duty payable in respect of my estate to The Royal Society of Musicians of Great Britain (registered charity number 208879) of 26 Fitzroy Square, London W1T 6BT.
• I direct that the receipt of the duly authorised officer of the Royal Society of Musicians of Great Britain shall be a sufficient discharge for my executor/trustees.

Saving clause

To be included in case The Royal Society of Musicians of Great Britain changes name/merges/incorporates at a future date:

If at my death The Royal Society of Musicians of Great Britain has changed its name or amalgamated with or transferred its assets to another body then my executors shall give effect to any gift to The Royal Society of Musicians of Great Britain as if it had been made (in the first case) to the body in its changed name or (in the second case) to the body which results from such amalgamation or to which such transfer has been made.

What about tax?

The Royal Society of Musicians is a registered charity so if you leave us a gift in your will it will normally be deducted from your estate before inheritance tax liability is calculated, although it best to seek professional advice from your solicitor if you have any queries about the issues raised in this guide. You can also find lots of useful information about wills and legacies at the Remember a Charity in Your Will website.

Thank you

If you decide to leave a gift in your will to The Royal Society of Musicians, we would love to thank you. We can only do this if you let us know about your decision, and we respect your wish to remain anonymous if you choose. We are extremely grateful for any gift you decide to leave us – your investment in the future of the music will make a such valuable difference to our work supporting musicians.

RSM is hugely grateful to everyone who has left us a gift in their wills, including: 

Jennifer Bate
Hilary Bracefield
Julian Bream CBE
John Edney
John Glenister
Andrew Hamilton
Elizabeth Levy
Veronica Lucas
Aileen MacArdle
Jane Manning OBE
WB Major
Pamela Munks
Anthony Payne
Ronald Redfern
Mary Remnant
Geoffrey Shaw
John Stenhouse
Peter Teague
JW Thompson
Anthony Tunstall
Dorothy Turner
Christina Ward
Una Warnes
Marion Wells

Contact us

If you have any questions, or would like to let us know about a gift you intend to leave, please contact us on [email protected] or 020 7629 6137.