Gifts in Wills
Be a part of our resistance beyond your lifetime
Your life has been spent enjoying music. But the song doesn’t have to end just yet. Leaving a lasting gift in your Will is one of the most powerful things you can do to keep the music playing, and it is so much easier to do than you might think!
Resistance to war, oppression, and division is as old as time itself, and that fight for a fairer future is far from over. Any gift you can leave in your Will to Musicians Without Borders allows you to be a part of our resistance beyond your lifetime.
Ready to get going?
Why Musicians Without Borders?
What started in 1999 as a group of musicians driving from The Netherlands to Bosnia and Herzegovina to spread healing through music, has evolved into a global movement for change. Gifts in Wills have been a part of our journey, and we wouldn’t be in the position we are in without the support of people who opened their hearts for us and made Musicians Without Borders part of their life and also of their legacy.
In recent years, we have seen a decrease in the personal freedoms and safety of people in the vast majority of the world. Genocides, wars, conflicts, and people with too much power stirring up hate are all reasons the world finds itself in the state it’s currently in. But as history has shown, it will not always be this way. Power structures collapse, empires fall, dictators do not last forever.
But history also tells us that real change only happens when people are united. Music is one of the best ways to bring people together under a common cause. Through our programs, we have already achieved social change in countries around the world. We have helped children in Rwanda access safe community spaces and support. We have helped young musicians in Kosovo to form bands that transcend ethnic divides. We have helped children in Palestine hold onto their cultural heritage. And while there is so much more to do, we know exactly how to do it.
The differences we’ve made
Mitrovica, Kosovo
A city divided along ethnic lines by the river Ibar. Where once it was not safe for people to cross this physical barrier, now it is becoming more normalised thanks to Mitrovica Rock School. Set up in 2008, the program aimed to bring young musicians from both sides of the city together. Back then, Mitrovica was too unsafe for the musicians to rehearse together, and so the bands met in Skopje, North Macedonia. 18 years later, it is a completely different story. A new generation of young musicians cross the river with ease. Mitrovica Rock School has locations on both sides of the river, and the trust of the entire city. Residents can no longer imagine the city without the Rock School
¡Soy Música!, El Salvador
In 2017, Musicians Without Borders set up our music program in El Salvador with the aim of building music leadership capacity, so that children could learn to live in harmony, and break the cycle of violence that dominated life in the country. By 2022, over a thousand teachers across El Salvador had experienced the Soy Música methodology and its nonviolent principles. Today, Soy Música is embedded in many classrooms and community spaces. The impact of the project is still growing every day, empowering not only children and youth, but school teachers and community leaders as well.
Rwanda Youth Music, Rwanda
While having improved in recent years, disability support provision in Rwanda is sparse. All too often, children and young people do not have access to the support they need to live without stigma and discrimination. But that’s where we come in. Since 2012, we have helped over 50,000 young people in Rwanda empower themselves through music, and move beyond stigma and discrimination. We provide music therapy to young people who need access to support systems, helping to care for those who face the physical and social challenges of disability or HIV, measurably improving their quality of life and building their involvement in the communities they ground together.
Quick links
If you want to read more about the specifics of making a gift, or talk to one of our team, simply click below:
Jargon-Buster
Legalese is tricky at the best of times, so we’ve included a glossary of terms you may encounter when making a Will and leaving a legacy gift.
Beneficiary
A person or organisation, such as Musicians Without Borders, to whom you may leave a gift in your Will.
Bequest
Another word for legacy gift.
Codicil
A legal instrument used to modify an earlier Will.
Contingent bequest
A gift in your Will that depends on an event which may or may not happen. For example, it could be a legacy gift that applies only if other named beneficiaries die before the person who made the Will.
Deed of Variation
A legal document that allows beneficiaries to change the terms of a Will, even after the person who made the Will has died.
Estate
Everything you own at the time of your death, including your house or flat, your possessions, money and investments such as stocks and shares. All debts such as your mortgage and loans will be paid out of the value of your estate.
Executor
The person you appoint to distribute your estate according to the instructions in your Will.
Intestate
If you die without having made a Will, you are known as intestate.
Life interest
The right of a beneficiary to benefit from part or all of an estate during their lifetime.
Residue
What’s left of an estate after funeral expenses, debts, legacies, and taxes have all been paid.
Trust
A legal arrangement whereby assets are handed over to trustees.
Trustee
Someone who holds property or assets on behalf of another person, and who is responsible for administering those assets.