Education is power. Pass it on!

Why two women created a legacy for the girls and how you can write your Will for free during the month of April

Making a Will is a simple way that you can take care of your family and the people you love. It is also one of the most powerful ways you can help bring about a world where all children can finish school and thrive.

Any yet, many of us struggle to ‘get around to it’, with studies showing that around 70% of Australians don’t have a legally binding will.

Introducing Safewill.

Plan International Australia have teamed up with Australia’s leading online will-writing platform Safewill. Safewill shares our values and vision for gender equality and a just world for children. Their platform provides a simple way for people to write their Will, combining detailed legal knowledge and simple, modern technology.

Plan International are offering all our supporters free access to Safewill’s platform. It is our way of saying thank you to our community.

Throughout the month of April, you can use the link to this service (usually $190), and prepare your Will at no cost.

We hope that Plan International supporters will also consider how they can create a legacy for future generations and help girls to access education and thrive.

There are many reasons people feel motivated to leave a gift to their favourite charity in their Will. Some donate to honour the memory of a caring family member, others leave a gift so they can pass on their values to communities around the world and inspire their children. Others simply donate so they can make a difference.

We spoke to two women from opposite ends of Australia, to find out what inspired them to make the profound and very personal choice to leave a gift to Plan International Australia in their Will.

JEANETTE, 71, Northern Territory

Having almost been denied the opportunity to complete her own schooling, it’s no wonder Plan International supporter Jeanette Jones is so passionate about education.

“My mother was supportive but my father didn’t think girls needed an education. In my youth in country Victoria, especially with my father, girls were supposed to become housewives, have children and support their husbands by cooking and cleaning. I did not want that.” Explains Jeanette.

“On my 15th birthday my father told me he would no longer pay for my education. He told me to quit school, get a job and find a husband.”

Jeanette did get a job, but only so she could pay for her own school fees, and she went on to become an educator herself! She has spent much of her career teaching children and adults with disabilities and has worked with Indigenous children in the far north, even establishing the first school in her community in the Northern Territory in 1998. She was the first teacher at that Dundee Beach School when it had only four students, and today, 23 years later, the school has been home to over 222 students!

In addition to her teaching diploma, Jeanette has three other degrees and has been many things over the years — a world traveller, a volunteer firefighter, a wildlife rescuer, a safari camp manager and a yachtie. But education has always been close to her heart, “My education allowed me to become the person I wanted to be.”

In fact, education is the reason she started supporting Plan International Australia nine years ago “I was contacted by PIA about girls’ education, and that’s why I choose to support.”

Wanting her legacy to continue, Jeanette has decided to leave a gift to Plan International in her Will, so future generations of girls can access early childhood support and education too.

“Well you can’t take it with you, can you! The money may as well do some good for young girls of the world as well!”

“I would like to see equality for girls. Equality of education. Equality of everything. Today, even in Australia, women are still considered inferior to men. I marched for equal pay in my twenties. Today, almost fifty years later, we are still marching for equal pay and justice for women. I would like to see girls and women treated equal. With a good education, the world is your oyster.”

JM, Victoria

For Plan International staff member JM, her two Sphynx cats, Chaos and Fury were a big motivator for her to write a Will.

“I thought, what would happen to them if I’m gone? I want to make sure they have a good home to go to and a gift for their carer.”

As a Digital Advertising Manager, Safewill was a straightforward option for JM, “I was happy with the idea of Safewill because I work with digital platforms, I know how secure they can be and I feel more comfortable doing things online. Writing my Will this way was easier than going out to see a solicitor. Also, knowing it was being reviewed by a lawyer to make sure every legal aspect had been covered was very reassuring.”

And when it came to leaving the decision to leave a gift to a charity in her will, Plan International was a no-brainer!

“I work at Plan International so one of the key areas I’m passionate about is creating equality for girls. Interestingly for me, going through this process I realised charity donations are particularly important, because if I outlive my parents, my partner, Lucas, and my family, I don’t really have anyone else (we don’t want children).”

“I think everyone should consider leaving a gift. Even a small gift can help a girl to become first woman in her family to graduate from school and create opportunities for future generations in her community.”

An offer for our community

If you’d like to take advantage of Plan International Australia’s partnership with Safewill, please click here to access Safewill’s service. This special offer is valid until the end of April, and it can take you less than 20 minutes!

While online will writing services aren’t suitable for those with extremely complex Estates, for most of us, Safewill provides everything we need to take care of our families and create a valid legal Will.

If you’d like to learn more, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with Emily Dudgeon, Plan International Australia’s key relationships manager for Gifts in Wills, on 0427 407 293 or via email at [email protected] You can also contact your solicitor for advice.

Together, we can continue to work towards a world where all children can live happy and healthy lives, and where girls can take their rightful place as equals. This is the world you are helping us create.