St. Jude legacy donors

Your estate plans have the power to help change lives.

By including St. Jude in your will or estate plan, you make an impact that will live on through the lives you helped save. You make life your legacy.

If you plan on leaving St. Jude in your will or estate plan, please let us know so we can honor your generosity and you can enjoy the benefits.

Fill out my online form.

How do I leave St. Jude in my will or estate plan?

Leave St. Jude as part of your legacy

Donors can leave a legacy gift for the children of St. Jude in several ways.

Bequest: you can make a bequest by including language in your will or living trust, leaving a portion of your estate to St. Jude.
Beneficiary Designation(s): you can name St. Jude as a beneficiary of your bank accounts, investment accounts, life insurance policy, donor-advised fund (DAF) and retirement assets including IRAs.
Charitable Gift Annuity: you can make an irrevocable gift to support St. Jude while providing a source of fixed income for life to you or another annuitant.

Confirm your gift and enjoy the benefits

By confirming your legacy gift, you give lasting hope for patients and families. Once you let us know that you are leaving St. Jude in your will or estate plan, you:

become a valued member of the Danny Thomas – St. Jude Society.
receive exclusive invitations to St. Jude events and updates.
gain recognition on the St. Jude campus.

Local representatives are available to speak with you about meaningful ways you can support the children and work of St. Jude.

Let us know you are interested on the form at the top of the page, and a St. Jude representative will reach out to you.

Common questions about legacy gifts to St. Jude

A charitable bequest is a simple, yet powerful way to help us give hope to innocent children who come to us looking for a second chance at life. A charitable bequest is a gift of cash, property, or assets, like your bank accounts or your home, to a charitable cause you care about — like St. Jude — after your lifetime.
A bequest — charitable or not — can be made for either:
- A specific dollar amount
- A percentage of your estate
- All or a portion of what is left after you have made bequests to your loved ones — often called a residuary bequest
Estate planning is the act of clearly identifying how you want your assets to be transferred after you pass. Estate planning is important for everyone as it helps honor your wishes, your loved ones are cared for, and your charitable goals are achieved.

A will is an estate planning option that specifies how you would like your assets to transfer when you pass.
There is no minimum financial commitment level for bequest gifts to St. Jude. As you make plans for your will or estate plan, your bequest — at any financial level — to St. Jude will help make cures possible for kids with cancer and other pediatric catastrophic diseases.
Yes, you can make changes to your will or estate plan during your lifetime.

When you let us know that you plan to leave St. Jude in your will or estate plan, you are helping us better prepare for the future and allowing us to celebrate your generosity. We understand that wills and estate plans can change, and we are grateful that you continue to consider St. Jude as part of your legacy.
There are numerous benefits to charitable bequests.

A meaningful part of your legacy

A charitable bequest costs you nothing now yet gives you the satisfaction of knowing you have provided for a charity or nonprofit organization’s future. And they can be simple to establish relative to their potentially significant impact.

Flexible and simple setup

To get started, you can simply add a few lines of text to your probated will or living trust. You may also modify your bequest if your circumstances change.

Charitable bequest tax deductions

Charitable bequests could help reduce federal estate taxes because there’s no limit to the value of charitable bequest assets that can be deducted from the total estate’s value. Also, the specific assets that are counted for the charitable deduction don’t have to be cash. You can include other assets like stocks, IRAs and real estate.
You should discuss any changes to a will or estate plan with an attorney or advisor so that your wishes are properly documented. If you are interested in leaving a gift to St. Jude through your estate plan, our team is here to provide you with more information based on your interests.

ALSAC/St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital does not provide tax, legal or accounting advice. This material is prepared and made available to you for informational purposes only and is not intended to provide or be relied upon for tax, legal or accounting advice. You should always consult a tax professional to determine your particular tax benefits that may result from any particular type of gift to charity.

Your legacy. Their possibilities.

In 2012, at age 12, Archie was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma and referred to St. Jude, where he received chemotherapy. More than one decade later, Archie is thriving – he recently bought a house, got married, and is an EMT and firefighter.

St. Jude helped save his life, and now he is saving lives.

Read Archie's story.