The Mary Rose Museum, with its unique and abundant collection of Tudor artefacts, represents a truly rich and incomparable legacy of cultural and historical significance.
With your help we can continue to secure that legacy.
Donations in wills to the Mary Rose Trust provide vital financial support for the Museum. Without these donations, we would not be able to continue our work.
Crucially, these donations enable us to make a difference; inspiring future generations and protecting this unique window into our history. With your help, we can conserve and protect this unrivalled collection of everyday Tudor life for future generations to experience and enjoy.
Bequeathments of just 1% will make a significant impact on the important work of the Mary Rose Trust.
Gifts of 10% or more may significantly reduce Inheritance Tax liability.
Donations may be ‘ring-fenced’ to help specific areas, such as: conservation, learning, community engagement, exhibitions, research - or another area of your choice.
We can recognise your kind donation in a way that suits you and can offer numerous options that will ensure your legacy will be remembered and recognised in perpetuity. We will work with you, and your executors, to ensure that you can continue to make a difference in the way that you intend.
No matter what their type and scale, every legacy makes a difference - we are very grateful for every gift donated.
The Mary Rose Trust is the custodian of an iconic and historical Tudor collection.
In our role as custodians of human history, it is our job to care for and conserve the Mary Rose, her crew and their belongings, ensuring we do everything we can to pass on the collection to future generations, in the best condition possible.
We also inspire current and future generations through educational programmes, contemporary interpretation of the collection, and engage our local community in order to improve the well-being, culture and economy of Portsmouth and its residents.
The scale at which we are able to achieve in these charitable objectives depends hugely on the Trust’s financial sustainability. The ship is an extremely demanding asset to look after and, whilst we will continue to explore new technologies to reduce energy use and cost of environmental controls, its conservation will continue to be a challenge.
We need to generate income necessary to fund this conservation whilst at the same time investing in the Museum’s visitor experience, from which, in turn, we generate income from visitor admissions, catering, retail and other activities.
Underpinning the Trust, we are committed to the growth of our Permanent Endowment Fund to provide annual revenue for the Trust, leverage external funding for major projects and provide emergency funding at times of particular challenge, such as during the COVID-19 pandemic.
With a gift in your will, your legacy would be the continued conservation of the Mary Rose for centuries to come.
Unless you specify otherwise, the Trustees would like your gift to be split 50/50 between the contemporary needs of the organisation and investment in the Permanent Endowment Fund.*
Every year brings its challenges and opportunities to The Mary Rose Trust. Additional funds are sometimes needed to enable us to run educational programmes and conservation research. At other times, funding is used to match investments from grants, in order to develop new exhibitions and displays.
*The portion of your gift allocated to contemporary needs will be used as the Trustees see fit, always prioritising the long-term protection of the Mary Rose and her contents.
“The Mary Rose Museum is the legacy of those who lost their lives and those who explored and raised her over 400 years later. As custodians of this most extraordinary collection of historical artefacts, we can honour their legacy with our own, securing the Museum for generations to come.
The Mary Rose deserves and needs our help. I hope you will find this guide useful as you consider leaving a gift to the Mary Rose Trust in your will”
- C.J. Sansom - best-selling author of the ‘Shardlake’ historical crime series
The Permanent Endowment Fund is a separately registered charity (No:1152898) with its own Board of Trustees. Its objects are solely to support the Mary Rose Trust by:
The Trustees aim to build a fund of £10M from which grants averaging c. £400,000 can be made each year. They hope that gifts in wills will help them achieve that target by 2032, the 50th anniversary of the raising of the Mary Rose.
Of course, if you would like your gift to be used in a different way, you can stipulate that in your will. It would be helpful if you could discuss this with us, so that we can confirm in advance that we would be able to accept the terms of the gift.
“With your help we can build an endowment to secure the Mary Rose for generations to come. Our aim is for the Fund to reach £10M by the 50th anniversary of the raising of the ship in 2032. Annual revenue, taken from the yield of this Fund, would enable the Trust to plan for the future and offer stability in times of challenge.”
- Julian Cazalet, Chair, Mary Rose Endowment Fund
Leaving a gift in your will may also reduce your Inheritance Tax - currently those leaving 10% or more of the qualifying estate to charity may benefit from a reduced rate of Inheritance Tax on the remainder of their estate. Please check www.gov.uk for up-to-date guidance.
“The Mary Rose Trust is a leading research centre, working with academic partners to improve knowledge and understanding of underwater archaeology and the conservation of artefacts. This knowledge not only helps us look after the Mary Rose better as new evidence and technologies emerge, but benefits the work of maritime archaeologists across the world. Leaving a gift in your Will to the Mary Rose Trust will enable this invaluable work to continue.”
Alan Lovell DL, Chair, Mary Rose Trust 2017-2021
It is important you use the right wording to specify the type of gift you wish to bequeath. Typically, these are usually ‘pecuniary ‘or ‘residuary’ gifts. The wording set out on the following pages are examples only and you should take advice on the wording that is appropriate to you.
Alternatively, if you would like to leave the Trust a gift of property, land, or a specific item, please contact our Development Team via email. There are some items we may be unable to accept,
Typically, there are two kinds of gift donations for which provision can be made in a will.
This is a gift of all or part of the value of your estate, after all other commitments have been settled. This is the most effective means of supporting the Mary Rose Trust, as the value of your gift will adjust with the value of your estate. As mentioned, just 1% of your estate would have a significant impact at the Mary Rose Museum.
Importantly, this means that you can future-proof your will – as the relative size of your donation will remain the same regardless of inflation over time. To give an example, a 1% donation of a £500,000 estate would enable us to fund free school workshops for 1,000 children. This is something that those children will remember, and that will continue to inspire them forever
This is a gift of a specific sum of money or property (e.g. £10,000).
Should you wish to, such a gift is able to be protected against the effects of inflation by ensuring that this is index-linked.
As a charity, all donations bequeathed to the Mary Rose Trust are exempt from Inheritance Tax, therefore a gift in your will to the Mary Rose Trust may help reduce the tax liability on your estate.
If you leave 10% or more of the net value of your estate to charity in your will, your estate will qualify for Inheritance Tax at the reduced rate of 36% rather than 40%. Every individual has a different state of affairs. A legal advisor will be able to tell you more about the ways charitable giving may reduce inheritance tax on your estate.
We are here to help. We can provide you with all the information you require to ensure your legacy is used in just the way that you would like it to be. So, if you would like your legacy to support a specific area, or if you are happy for us to use your gift where we feel the need is greatest at that time, then please advise us accordingly.
Thank you for considering leaving a donation in your will to the Mary Rose Trust