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Bequests - an enduring gift

You might like to consider making the University a beneficiary in your Will

A bequest is a powerful way of using today’s assets to make an enduring gift and assist future generations. The University has been honoured to receive such support from friends in the past.

The late Joseph Byrnes made a bequest in 1994 to establish the Anne Lyons Memorial Travelling Scholarship as a tangible memorial to the life and contribution of his daughter Anne Lyons, a scholar, wife and teacher who succumbed to cancer tragically at the early age of 42.

Anne’s prevailing passion was the study and pursuit of social justice in Australia. Consequently, the Scholarship was designed to enable an Australian Catholic University (ACU National) postgraduate student to travel for research into social justice, or to bring a local or international scholar to attend ACU National.

Since then, the memory of Anne has inspired and supported scholars from Vietnam and South Africa, for example, and students to study in places as diverse as Papua New Guinea, France and Northern Ireland.

Considering making a bequest

We welcome your support in this way and would be happy to discuss this confidentially if you are considering making such a gift.

While you should always seek independent legal advice when considering making a bequest, below is an example of wording for you to consider with your bequest:

I give (specify amount or proportion of estate, or nature of asset or gift) to the Australian Catholic University. I request the University to apply this bequest for the purposes of support for (select one or more of the following)

  • scholarships for students, or
  • research into (specify area), or
  • community engagement and social justice.

If the University considers that my intentions are best fulfilled in another or additional ways, then I express the wish that my bequest be applied in any allied field of study or such other purposes which in the University’s view most closely matches my expressed intentions. I request the receipt of the University be accepted as sufficient discharge for the same.

You should always seek independent legal advice when considering a bequest.