CERA

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Gifts in wills

By including a gift in your will, your support for new medical discoveries to treat and cure eye diseases can continue.

Create a legacy of sight

At CERA, we are working towards a future where all eye diseases are curable, and where sight can be protected and restored.

You can make this exciting future a part of your legacy.


By leaving a gift in your will to CERA you will be enabling exciting breakthroughs in eye health research that will transform the treatment and diagnosis of eye diseases, long into the future.

A gift in your will to CERA, is a gift of hope for future generations living with eye disease.

We invest every gift carefully into research projects that will have the greatest impact on eye health in the years to come.

Whether you’re creating or updating your will, it’s easy to include a gift to CERA. If you’re interested in doing so, we’d love to speak with you to make sure your gift is invested into the area of our work you care about the most.

We recommend also visiting a legal advisor so that your wishes for family, friends and your favourite charities are made clear.

If you’d like to know more about how a gift in your will could make a difference, please download our free enquiry booklet. For a confidential discussion, contact us on 03 9929 8360 or at giftsinwills@cera.org.au.

Types of gifts

There are three types of gifts you can include in your will. Below we describe the most common to help you decide which is best for you.

Residuary gift

This is the gift of all or part of the value of your estate after debts, taxes and other gifts have been met. The advantage of residuary gifts is that they automatically keep up with inflation, and you don’t have to worry about amending the gift if your financial situation changes.

Specific gift

This is the gift of something of value like real estate, shares or a piece of jewellery.

Pecuniary gift

A pecuniary gift is simply a sum of money. You can arrange this amount to be increased in line with inflation.

Information for solicitors, executors and trustees

The Centre for Eye Research Australia is supported by the Centre for Eye Research Australia Foundation (ABN: 24 684 029 499).

The Centre for Eye Research Australia Foundation is endorsed as a deductible gift recipient.

The registered address is:

Centre for Eye Research Australia Foundation
Royal Victorian Eye & Ear Hospital
Level 7, 32 Gisborne Street
East Melbourne VIC 3002

If you require further information, or have any questions, please email us or call 03 9929 8360 to speak with a member of the Philanthropy & Fundraising Team.

Suggested wording

Suggested wording to leave a residuary gift is:

“I give free of all taxes and testamentary expenses the whole (or percentage share) of the residue of my estate to the Centre for Eye Research Australia (ABN: 72 076 481 984) to be used for its general purposes, and the receipt of an authorised officer from the Centre for Eye Research Australia shall be full and sufficient discharge to my executors.”

The suggested wording for a pecuniary gift is:

“I give free of all taxes and testamentary expenses the sum of $____ (in figures and words) to the Centre for Eye Research Australia (ABN: 72 076 481 984) to be used for its general purposes, and the receipt of an authorised officer from the Centre for Eye Research Australia shall be full and sufficient discharge to my executors.”

The form of wording for a specific gift is the same as a pecuniary gift, except the gift is specified, rather than a cash sum.

If you would prefer to leave a gift in your will for a particular purpose or project, please email us or call 03 9929 8360 to speak with a member of the Philanthropy & Fundraising Team.

Writing your will online

We recommend that you work with a solicitor or public trustee to write your will. If you only need a simple will and do not already have one, you can use an online service.

Gathered Here is an Australian end-of-life services provider that offers a free online will writing service. Their website takes you through an easy, step-by-step guide to writing your will, with unlimited updates. It also makes it easy for you to include a gift to CERA.

To learn more and start writing your will online, visit the Gathered Here website.

Letting us know

If you intend to leave a gift to the Centre for Eye Research Australia in your will, or if you have already included us, we would appreciate the chance to thank you in person and invite you to some of our special events, including tours of our labs and meeting with senior researchers.

Your wishes will remain confidential. Please let us know by email or call 03 9929 8360 to speak with a member of the Philanthropy & Fundraising Team.

Bequestors’ stories

People from all walks of life have generously decided to leave a gift in their will to the Centre for Eye Research Australia. Read a few of their stories here.

Joan and John Garden

Siblings Joan and John Garden lived rich and fulfilling lives in the heyday of air travel. Their generous bequest to CERA will make an invaluable contribution to our mission to prevent vision loss.

Sylvia Gelman AM MBE

A dedicated teacher, a women’s rights advocate, a lover of the arts and sports – Sylvia Gelman lived a full and passionate life and made a lasting impact on all those around her.

Philip George Neal

Before he passed away in 2011, dairy farmer Philip Neal made the decision to leave a significant bequest to support stem cell research at the Centre for Eye Research Australia.

Peter Sierkowski

“I’ve always been a proactive person so when I was diagnosed with age-related macular degeneration, I made it my mission to learn as much as I could about AMD and contribute in any way I could to AMD research,” Peter says.

Contact us

For more information about leaving a gift in your will, please email us or call 03 9929 8360  to speak to a member of the Philanthropy & Fundraising Team.