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Your Good Will for Nature

You can help create an Australia where our unique wildlife is safe in flourishing protected areas.

How to help  |  Donate  |  Photo: Superb fairy wren, Patrick Kavanagh

Your Good Will for Nature can create a Wildlife Revival

A Will allows you to continue your life’s work and provide for your loved ones.

A gift in your Will is a powerful way to shape the future through your legacy: a future where Australia’s native wildlife are safe from invasive-led extinction. Where our protected areas can thrive free from dangerous predators, pests, weeds and disease. Where future generations can enjoy the beauty of our national treasures like we have

Invasive species are at the centre of Australia’s nature crisis. They are the leading cause of animal extinction. They kill more than 2 billion animals every year. They destroy our beloved natural places, protected or not, and transform the landscape, leaving our native animals without shelter or food and natural systems destroyed.

Your Good Will for Nature can Future Proof Australia’s Wildlife

To ensure Australia’s wildlife survives and thrives, we must future proof our protected areas and islands from invasive species led extinction and destruction. As the only national advocacy organisation dedicated to this, your Good Will for Nature will make a big difference.

If you leave a gift in your will to the Invasive Species Council, and tell us about your decision, you’ll secure our financial future so we can commit to bold, strategic campaigns that can create lasting results for Australia’s wildlife and protected areas.  As a smaller impactful organisation with a mandate to grow our impact to match the scale of the invasive species mega threat, The Invasive Species Council increasingly depends on people’s Good Will for Nature to finance our critical work to future-proof wildlife. 

It’s a promise from this generation to the next. We can and we must lead a wildlife revival, for our previous native wildlife.

             

How to make your Good Will for Nature last

Writing your Will is a very important and personal process. It ensures your loved ones and causes dear to your heart are provided for. There are many ways to leave a gift in your Will, also called a bequest, and it’s important you find the right way for you. Once you’ve considered the people and charities to include, and your executor, we recommend that your Will is prepared by a solicitor or trustee company. This will ensure it is legally valid, and reflects your intentions and circumstances. 

For more straightforward Wills, we recommend doing an on-line will through Willed. It’s a quick and easy process providing legal support and advice.

Types of Gifts

A residual gift can be an option to ensure your loved ones are looked after first. Leaving a residual gift means that after your Will has made all necessary provisions for those dear to you, the residue of your estate (remaining assets) are passed to the Invasive Species Council as your residuary beneficiaries. Your residual gift can also be left as a specific percentage of the residue of your estate.

You can leave your entire estate or any part of your estate to The Invasive Species Council.

Leaving a specific percentage of your estate assures that inflation will not erode the value of your gift.

You can gift specific items of property (such as cash, bank balances, an identifiable property, jewellery, shares or art work) in your Will provided that the Invasive Species Council are given permission to sell them to fund our work to keep nature safe. 

You may consider leaving a gift in specie to The Invasive Species Council, if the intended gift is real estate or shares. This means it can be transferred directly to The Invasive Species Council which may save capital gains tax on the sale of the asset. To ensure this is suitable to your situation please seek appropriate legal advice.

Suggested wording for your Will

Your Will should be prepared by a solicitor, trustee company or on-line with Willed where there is legal support and advice. This is suggested text for the guidance of these experts:

“I GIVE the rest and residue of my estate / OR [insert description of specific gift] / OR [insert percentage]% of my estate free from all debts (secured and unsecured) and all duties and taxes (whether federal or state) payable in respect of my estate to the Invasive Species Council Inc. (ABN 27101522829 (The Invasive Species Council) for its general purposes, and I DECLARE that the receipt of an authorised officer of the said Invasive Species Council shall be a complete and sufficient discharge of this bequest.”

Join a community of Good Will for Nature

If you have decided to leave a gift in your Will to The Invasive Species Council or have already included us, we’d love to invite you to our circle of Good Will for Nature. This growing community of people who share similar values to lead a wildlife revival and future proof nature receive special publications, updates from the CEO and are invited to special events with guest speakers.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

Your Will is one of the most important documents in your life. You don’t want to risk complications or errors which could cause problems for your loved ones after you die. A solicitor can also ensure that your will is written in a way that means your wishes are carried out.

Online Wills are becoming more common and The Invasive Species Council has partnered with Willed who provide legal advice and support should you choose to do your Will online. There are several online services you could use.

If you would like to use Willed, you can prepare your Will here.

Yes. If you happen to experience a change in your relationship, divorce or the death of your partner, separate Wills will help you to avoid legal complications.

You should update your will whenever your circumstances change. This could include:

  • Birth of a new family member
  • Death of a spouse, partner or other family member
  • A change in your health or that of your partner
  • A change in relationships, such as marriage or divorce
  • The purchase of a new property or other major asset

It is very important to talk to your loved ones about your decision to leave a bequest to the Invasive Species Council. Talking will reduce the risk of disputes between them, and help ensure that your wishes are carried out.

It’s your decision to leave a gift in your will. We are extremely grateful for whatever gift you wish to leave, but generally we recommend a residual bequest as the best form of a gift in your will. A residual bequest means that after your Will has made all necessary provisions for relatives, friends and debtors, the remaining part, or “residue” of your estate will be passed to the organisation and/or individuals named as your residuary beneficiaries. Your residual gift can also be left as a specific percentage of the residue of your estate. For example, you could leave a gift of 10% of your residual estate.

Yes. We welcome property bequests, as long as you give your permission for us to sell the land and use the funds for our work to protect Australia’s unique wildlife from invasive species. If you would like the land’s natural diversity protected in the long term, you can place a conservation covenant on your property. You should seek the advice of your solicitor if you wish to leave property.

So we can thank you personally and invite you to join our Good Will for Nature community of other people who are making wildlife revival their legacy. It also provides financial security that enables us to commit to longer term, strategic campaigns that are bold enough to win long lasting results for nature.

Let Us Know

If you have decided to leave a gift in your Will to The Invasive Species Council or have already included us, please complete this contact form and let us know so that we can welcome you to our Good Will for Nature community. Bequests are a vital source for future proofing the survival of Australia’s wildlife.

Get in touch

We are here to help you make the right decision that expresses your values and cares for your loved ones. The Invasive Species Council wishes to assure you that your gift is in confidence. We understand that making your Will is a very personal matter, and as such all information will be kept in confidence, in accordance with our policy and Australian Privacy Law.

For more information please contact Shirstine Green. 

Dear Project Team,

[YOUR PERSONALISED MESSAGE WILL APPEAR HERE.] 

I support the amendment to the Kosciuszko National Park Wild Horse Heritage Management Plan to allow our incredible National Parks staff to use aerial shooting as one method to rapidly reduce feral horse numbers. I want to see feral horse numbers urgently reduced in order to save the national park and our native wildlife that live there.

The current approach is not solving the problem. Feral horse numbers have rapidly increased in Kosciuszko National Park to around 18,000, a 30% jump in just the past 2 years. With the population so high, thousands of feral horses need to be removed annually to reduce numbers and stop our National Park becoming a horse paddock. Aerial shooting, undertaken humanely and safely by professionals using standard protocols, is the only way this can happen.

The government’s own management plan for feral horses states that ‘if undertaken in accordance with best practice, aerial shooting can have the lowest negative animal welfare impacts of all lethal control methods’.

This humane and effective practice is already used across Australia to manage hundreds of thousands of feral animals like horses, deer, pigs, and goats.

Trapping and rehoming of feral horses has been used in Kosciuszko National Park for well over a decade but has consistently failed to reduce the population, has delayed meaningful action and is expensive. There are too many feral horses in the Alps and not enough demand for rehoming for it to be relied upon for the reduction of the population.

Fertility control as a management tool is only effective for a small, geographically isolated, and accessible population of feral horses where the management outcome sought is to maintain the population at its current size. It is not a viable option to reduce the large and growing feral horse population in the vast and rugged terrain of Kosciuszko National Park.

Feral horses are trashing and trampling our sensitive alpine ecosystems and streams, causing the decline and extinction of native animals. The federal government’s Threatened Species Scientific Committee has stated that feral horses ‘may be the crucial factor that causes final extinction’ for 12 alpine species.

I recognise the sad reality that urgent and humane measures are necessary to urgently remove the horses or they will destroy the Snowies and the native wildlife that call the mountains home. I support a healthy national park where native species like the Corroboree Frog and Mountain Pygmy Possum can thrive.

Kind regards,
[Your name]
[Your email address]
[Your postcode]


Dear Project Team,

[YOUR PERSONALISED MESSAGE WILL APPEAR HERE.] 

I support the amendment to the Kosciuszko National Park Wild Horse Heritage Management Plan to allow our incredible National Parks staff to use aerial shooting as one method to rapidly reduce feral horse numbers. I want to see feral horse numbers urgently reduced in order to save the national park and our native wildlife that live there.

The current approach is not solving the problem. Feral horse numbers have rapidly increased in Kosciuszko National Park to around 18,000, a 30% jump in just the past 2 years. With the population so high, thousands of feral horses need to be removed annually to reduce numbers and stop our National Park becoming a horse paddock. Aerial shooting, undertaken humanely and safely by professionals using standard protocols, is the only way this can happen.

The government’s own management plan for feral horses states that ‘if undertaken in accordance with best practice, aerial shooting can have the lowest negative animal welfare impacts of all lethal control methods’.

This humane and effective practice is already used across Australia to manage hundreds of thousands of feral animals like horses, deer, pigs, and goats.

Trapping and rehoming of feral horses has been used in Kosciuszko National Park for well over a decade but has consistently failed to reduce the population, has delayed meaningful action and is expensive. There are too many feral horses in the Alps and not enough demand for rehoming for it to be relied upon for the reduction of the population.

Fertility control as a management tool is only effective for a small, geographically isolated, and accessible population of feral horses where the management outcome sought is to maintain the population at its current size. It is not a viable option to reduce the large and growing feral horse population in the vast and rugged terrain of Kosciuszko National Park.

Feral horses are trashing and trampling our sensitive alpine ecosystems and streams, causing the decline and extinction of native animals. The federal government’s Threatened Species Scientific Committee has stated that feral horses ‘may be the crucial factor that causes final extinction’ for 12 alpine species.

I recognise the sad reality that urgent and humane measures are necessary to urgently remove the horses or they will destroy the Snowies and the native wildlife that call the mountains home. I support a healthy national park where native species like the Corroboree Frog and Mountain Pygmy Possum can thrive.

Kind regards,
[Your name]
[Your email address]
[Your postcode]