Bequests accounted for roughly 10% of the $617.2 billion Americans gave to charity in 2025, showing how a gift in a will can keep making a difference for years to come. Under current federal law, charitable bequests are fully deductible from a taxable estate, making legacy giving both meaningful and tax-efficient.
At Starfish, that lasting impact is already visible: a past legacy gift helped keep a Wellness Wagon on the road in rural KwaZulu-Natal, where it continues bringing healthcare closer to children like Lerato, a teenager who no longer has to walk ten miles for a doctor’s visit.
Lerato used to walk ten miles to the nearest clinic. She'd wait in a line of strangers, then answer questions she didn't want to answer, in a room with no privacy, about things a teenager doesn't want to say out loud in front of people she knows.
Then the Wellness Wagon started coming to her village instead.
It's a converted vehicle that drives out to rural communities across KwaZulu-Natal, bringing a nurse, basic screening, and private, non-judgmental health information directly to young people who would otherwise go without it. For Lerato and her friends, it meant somewhere to ask a real question and get a real answer, without judgment and without the walk.
The Wellness Wagon exists because, years ago, someone left a gift to Starfish in their will, one line in an estate plan, written once, that still pays for a nurse's time and a tank of fuel today.
Because of gifts like that, Starfish can invest directly in vehicles like the Wagon and buildings at partner centers: decisions made once that keep working long after the person who made them is no longer here to see it.
A legacy gift is simply a gift you arrange now that Starfish receives later — usually through your will, though not always. It costs you nothing today, changes nothing about how you live, and lets you make a much larger gift than you could from your income alone.
It's also a private decision. You decide how much, when, and whether anyone else needs to know.
The most common route is naming Starfish in your will or living trust, usually in one of two forms:
You can also name Starfish as a full or partial beneficiary on a retirement account, life insurance policy, or donor-advised fund, often the simplest option, since it usually takes nothing more than updating a beneficiary form with the account provider, with no new will required.
For most American families, federal estate tax isn't the deciding factor either way: as of 2026, the federal estate tax exemption is $15 million per person, so most estates owe no federal estate tax at all, with or without a charitable gift.
What doesn't change is this: a bequest to a qualified charity like Starfish fully reduces the value of a taxable estate, for any estate large enough to owe the tax. Either way, every dollar you leave to Starfish goes to Starfish; nothing is withheld for tax.
This isn't legal or financial advice, and estate law varies by state, so we'd always encourage you to talk to an estate attorney or financial advisor about what's right for your own situation.
A legacy doesn't have to wait for a will. If you've lost someone who cared about children having a fair start, there are ways to honor them immediately:
Give in memory of someone you love →
You don't need a lawyer in the room for this first step. If you'd like to include Starfish in your will, or you just want to understand what a gift like this could do for a child, email us directly at usainfo@starfish-greathearts.org, and we'll talk it through with no pressure and total discretion.
Whatever form it takes, a legacy gift is a vote for a child you may never meet to grow up the way Lerato is growing up now: seen, cared for, and no longer walking ten miles for something as basic as a nurse.
Talk to us about your legacy →
In keeping with the POPIA Act, and to protect the identity of our children, names and faces may have been changed.