A Legacy Rooted in Service with Mike Briggs

On this episode of the People of The Moncton Hospital podcast, Friends Foundation President & CEO, Frances LeBlanc sits down with Mike Briggs, the former planned giving officer with the Anglican Diocese of Fredericton and a legacy donor alongside his wife Judith to the Friends Foundation.

May is legacy month, so our conversation with Mike was very fitting. During the episode, we talk about the different ways you can leave a legacy, some misconceptions about legacy giving and what resources you can use if you are looking to leave a legacy. 

You can learn more about legacy giving at: FriendsFoundation.ca/Legacy

If you would like to schedule a confidential conversation, please contact Marianne.Mepham-Newton@FriendsFoundation.ca

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Dans cet épisode du podcast Personnes de L'Hôpital de Moncton, Frances LeBlanc, présidente-directrice générale de la Fondation des Amis, s'entretient avec Mike Briggs, ancien responsable des dons planifiés au sein du diocèse anglican de Fredericton et donateur testamentaire, aux côtés de son épouse Judith, à la Fondation des Amis. 

Le mois de mai étant le mois des l'héritage, notre conversation avec Mike tombait à point nommé. Au cours de cet épisode, nous abordons les différentes façons de faire un legs, certaines idées reçues sur les dons testamentaires et les ressources à votre disposition si vous souhaitez faire un don testamentaire.

Pour en savoir plus sur les dons testamentaires, rendez-vous sur : FriendsFoundation.ca/Legacy

Si vous souhaitez prendre rendez-vous pour un entretien confidentiel, veuillez contacter Marianne.Mepham-Newton@FriendsFoundation.ca

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Hi friends, and welcome to the People of the Moncton Hospital podcast. Today I'm joined by Mike Race, someone whose connection to the Moncton Hospital is rooted both in personal experience and a lifelong commitment to giving back. Alongside his wife Judith, Mike is a member of the Friends Foundation's Gift for Life Society, a group of thoughtful donors who've made a lasting impact through a gift in their will or another form of legacy giving. With me being legacy month, this conversation is a really special one. It's about gratitude, about planning for the future, and about quiet and powerful ways people choose to care for others. It's about legacy and impact. So Mike, thanks so much for being here.

SPEAKER_01 0:47

You're welcome.

SPEAKER_00 0:49

Let's start at the beginning. I'd be curious if you could share a bit about yours and Judith's connection to the Moncton Hospital.

SPEAKER_01 0:56

Yeah, um just slightly over 70 years ago, her youngest brother was born at the Moncton Hospital. She grew up on Edged Avenue facing the Moncton Hospital. So the hospital was always part of where she was at. And after she graduated from Moncton High, she attended the Moncton Hospital School of Nursing and worked for a number of years here in Moncton. Then as her career progressed, um, she moved on, finished up doing 20 plus years in Toronto, both at um the Wellesley and Toronto General, which is now part of the University Health Network, and she spent the last 18 to 20 years in medical imaging um as a nurse. Um so she saw a lot of the procedures that the new hybrid OR will stop. They had patients coming down where they had to do um imaging before going back to the OR. So we can really see that that this new hybrid OR will save time. It'll save the doctors a fair bit of work, it'll save the nurses a lot of work rather than toing and froing, transferring patients from one floor to another. And anything like that is is traumatic for the patient anyway. So the likelihood is that they'll have a much better outcome. It's a quicker procedure and less stress on them. So that's part and parcel of our connection. I've been to emergency a couple of times with odd issues, it's always been dealt with very professionally. Yeah, sure. I've had to wait sometimes, and that's fine. Other people with a more urgent need are ahead of me. And my wife did spend some of the time in emergency, both here and in Toronto, so we understand triage, we understand that while you may think you're urgent, you're not compared to anybody else. So that's sort of a bit of a background as to our connection with the hospital.

SPEAKER_00 3:11

Yeah, that's super interesting. Uh, fueled by personal experience, but also professional experience on Judith's side, and how interesting that the standard of care in terms of hybrid operating room was in place in Toronto and she saw firsthand the impact it would have not only on the patients but the caregivers, and how you've both uh decided to contribute as part of the impact that you wish to have here.

SPEAKER_01 3:34

Yeah, we're we're lucky. Um, as you can tell from my accent, I'm not originally from this part of the world. I'm from a very small island called Jersey, which is about 70 miles south of England, 10 miles from France. And growing up, my mother did a lot of volunteer work with the homeless, with the with the needy, and I've always seen the work she did there was was she found it very fulfilling, and that sort of spilled over. Um, I volunteered a lot of my life with not-for-profits, I was part of a provincial sport organization in Ontario when we lived there, and I've been or I was treasurer of our church for uh too long, well well over ten years, and when the planned giving officer at the diocese, who was the archdeacon of St. John, got elected as Bishop of Fredericton, that job fell vacant. And at that time I'd retired and I spent most of my life in finance and had my own business as well. And philanthropic giving has always interested me. We've always donated to charity every year. We try to give 10% of our income, and we normally get there. Um then I wrote to the bishop who I know quite well, and I said, Well, David, your position as stewardship office has been vacant for about 18 months now. You know, I've I've got a background in finance, I'm interested in giving. Why don't we try and find a few other people like me throughout the geographical area of New Brunswick? I'm quite happy to look after the Moncton area. I know most of the clergy here, and I'm really happy going out and talking to the congregations. And he got back to me a month later and he said, No, he said, I don't think that would be a good fit for you. Why don't you do the whole diocese? Thank you. So yeah, I spent quite a bit of time going around, talking to clergy, talking to congregations about charitable giving. What I found is that as you start to get people thinking they're a little more receptive to the idea, and some of them say, Well, you know, I'm not rich. What why? I I I can't see me leaving a legacy, and my answer to them is it doesn't matter how much or how little. We donate annually to the friends, we donate annually to Peter McKee Community Food Center, where I do a lot of volunteer work and I can see the need there. Um and as I say, just working with the diocese has given me an insight into the need for legacy giving and the different ways that can impact society and different ways of doing it. Um there are ways that are way more tax efficient than others, and that's one of the things that I did push that you know, if you've got, and I'll I'll just throw out some examples here. If you've got stocks that are worth $20,000 that cost you 10, if you sell them and donate that $20,000, you get a tax receipt for the $20,000. But because you've made a $10,000 profit, you pay tax on that profit. If instead you donate the shares directly, which you can do, you still get a tax receipt for that full amount, but you don't get hit with the capital gains tax. So from a personal point of view, at that respect, it's it's way more efficient. Um, you're getting the same tax receipt, you're not getting an income tax hit. And as far as legacy giving, it's even better. Um under the current tax rules, and I might be a little bit off here, you can deduct up to 75% of your income as a charitable donation. On death, your estate can claim up to 100% of your income as a charitable donation. So anything you donate there reduces the cost to the estate.

SPEAKER_00 7:58

It's such an interesting process to go through it. I just went through estate planning myself. Um, and the questions they asked about your values and alignment and wishes and where you would want your impact. I'm curious, you've already provided a lot of insight, but um, what would you like people to know about legacy giving? Maybe some of the key questions they should ask themselves prior to starting the process or even within it?

SPEAKER_01 8:25

One of the questions, and this is what I've nearly always started off any presentation I've done, and it's a trick question. Do you have a will? And typically about half the people raise their hand, and no, I don't. And I said, Wrong, you do. The question is, who has written your will? Is it you or is it the provincial government? Because if you die without a will, provincial legislation dictates, no matter what you may have expressed verbally, how your estate gets distributed. So the first thing to do is to sit down with a professional advisor, be it a financial advisor or a legal advisor, to see exactly how your will should be structured. And they're a living document. As your circumstances change, your will can change. I think we're on our, we moved back to Moncton just over 20 years ago, and we're now on our fourth version. Because we had a business, so that makes it different, and then we sold the business, then we sold our house, and and every time we did that, we revisited our will. So again, the the first part of planning is know where you're at, but remember it's not static. Your circumstances change, you may have children, you may have grandchildren come along. So you're gonna relook at it. And but the first thing you have to do is plan and not let the government dictate how your estate is going to be distributed.

SPEAKER_00 9:59

Yeah, absolutely. And you alluded to finding those professionals that can help support you in those conversations or process or even that regular review process as your circumstances changes.

SPEAKER_01 10:10

Yep. Quite often one of the best places is your bank. Um they know what your circumstances are like. Banks typically do not charge for their services. A lawyer will, an accountant will. But you can go in and talk to your banker. They may be handling just your checking and savings account, they may be handling your mortgage, but they have an insight as to where you're at financially. So that's a good place to start the conversation. They will ask you all sorts of questions like what is important to you. Perhaps where do you see yourself in five or ten years' time? Depending on your age, they may ask you about your retirement planning. If you're close to retirement, how do you think you're placed for retirement? So there's no one size fits all. Everybody is different. We're all human, we're all different. You know what? And that's what makes life interesting.

SPEAKER_00 11:09

Yeah. I think that's interesting. Uh no uh one size fits all. It really is about individual and figuring out what plan works for you. I'm wondering, you mentioned um a bit in your conversation about some misconceptions. What are maybe some of the biggest misconceptions that you have heard through your previous role about legacy giving?

SPEAKER_01 11:31

My estate isn't going to be big enough. Most people think I don't have anything. Why should I think about it? But if you look down and speak with your financial advisor and work through where you are and what you've got, you may find that you're worth a lot more than you think. Um if you're in full-time employment and you're you're lucky enough that you have a pension plan, you may not think about it because you just pay into it, it comes off every paycheck. But over a period of time, I think that the commuted value is incredible.

SPEAKER_00 12:07

Yeah, absolutely. And it, you know, again, it comes back to individualized plan based on your needs. I often hear also from maybe younger adults, I don't need a will, it's not uh important now, um, I'll wait till I'm in my 60s. Uh, but to your point, really everyone should have a will regardless, especially if you have employment or dependence.

SPEAKER_01 12:30

As I say, it's not everybody should have a will. Everybody does have a will. It's just, is it your will or is it the provinces? And that's the misconception.

SPEAKER_00 12:40

So I think I already know, but if if someone hasn't considered um legacy planning, hasn't considered necessarily estate planning, what would be the first step that you would recommend?

SPEAKER_01 12:53

Speak to your bank.

SPEAKER_00 12:54

Right.

SPEAKER_01 12:55

They're the ones that have probably the best knowledge of where you're at and where you're going. After that, if you do have um a lawyer, speak to your lawyer.

SPEAKER_00 13:09

Absolutely. Yeah, it's hard to predict in the future, and certainly when you're starting in your career versus when you end, circumstances are very different. I guess um, turning towards, I guess, legacy or impact. Um, if you think of the impact of your gift to support cares at the Moncton Hospital, what does that mean to you?

SPEAKER_01 13:29

It means is that there's a quote out of the Bible. We bring nothing into this world, and for sure we take nothing from it. But by leaving a legacy, the good and the effort you've put into living a good life lives on. Um we can see that all around us in the Moncton Hospital with the new neonatal unit that's just been built, with the Sheldon Rubin Cancer Center, with the new hybrid OR that's going in, with the new cardiac program, which I believe isn't too far from being finished. A lot of that is done by donations to the friends, either donating throughout the year, or by people who said, you know what, I'm going to leave a legacy to the Moncton Hospital in my will. But yeah, so you can donate in a couple of ways, but it means that the good you're doing will carry on. It will benefit future generations, it will make life easier for patients and the medical staff because every time there's an improvement, there's a better outcome for both patients and medical teams.

SPEAKER_00 14:41

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, and sometimes it's hard to anticipate what those needs might be, but people committing to future state uh continued impact and continued care for those in our community is so tremendous to making sure that we can continue to do the work that we're doing.

SPEAKER_01 14:58

Wow. Every medical facility in the country, in fact, in the world, cannot get enough money directly from government. They can to do the day-to-day stuff, but to improve and expand, they need the generosity of the public. And and that can be done, as I say, by monthly giving, by an annual donation, by leaving a memory in your will. And and that way your name can live on. I mean, you look around different places and you see, as I say, we see Shilden Rubin's name on the medical center there. There's uh the new cancer house just down the street on Macbeth, and the name totally escapes. Bannon House. Bannon House, that's right. That was a very, very generous donation from the family. And that's gonna provide ongoing benefits to the whole community. It's not just the one and done. The facility is there, it's gonna benefit cancer patients for decades to come. So that's so that's why to me, legacy giving is so important. It's not just for today, it's for the future.

SPEAKER_00 16:15

Absolutely. Yeah. And sort of to loop back to our first conversation, often it is informed by lived experience. We're working through a project right now where someone had an experience and brought a new idea. That is a common way for people to give in really specific ways to improve um the conditions or improve the quality of life of patients here. Um, and that's something we really benefit from working directly with donors to find ideas or even providers.

SPEAKER_01 16:45

Yeah, oh absolutely. Um and again, I ideas are what move us forward. Ideas are the future. So yeah, anybody can come up with a good idea. And generally it's based on what you yourself have been through. And you know what? I'm sure this could be done a little better if and then you talk that over with people that are in the the planning side and say, you know what? You're right, we hadn't thought of that. And that particular individual who made that suggestion is much more invested in it because they've seen a way of doing something better. And and to them it's okay, they're gonna go ahead with this, so maybe I should support them in that.

SPEAKER_00 17:35

Yeah, absolutely. I think healthcare is really at the heart of the community, and the community is at the heart of healthcare, and it really takes everyone to be involved to be able to provide feedback and and make sure that we improve uh for generations to come. Is there anything else you would add that we haven't covered? Um, this has been really informative so far.

SPEAKER_01 17:58

No, I think we've we've touched pretty well all the bases that that I would touch when I was doing my uh talks to to the diocese. Um if there's two points they would emphasize is make sure you have a will and don't think that you don't have enough to give. No matter which charity you're talking about, whether it's the friends, whether it's something else that's near and dear to your heart, every donation counts. Every donation is appreciated, no matter the size. You may not think it's much, but if you add a thousand, hundred dollar donations, all of a sudden that's a hundred thousand dollars. So, yes, your amount may not seem significant to you, but when you add it in to all the other little amounts that are there, it becomes a significant sum.

unknown 18:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:57

So yeah, two things. Make sure you have a will and don't think that you don't have enough to make a difference. You do.

unknown 19:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:06

What a great way to finish it. Thank you so much, Mike, for sharing uh your story and do this story. I think it's apparent that you're both uh very altruistic through your volunteerism in the community, but also how you decide to give back um to different charities across our region and in Ontario. And we really appreciate uh you and Judith's um commitment to bettering our community and uh look forward to continuing to collaborate.

SPEAKER_01 19:34

It's been my pleasure.

SPEAKER_00 19:36

Um, if people are interested to learn more about legacy, please visit our website at friendsfoundation.ca slash legacy or contact the Friends Foundation. We love to have conversations.

SPEAKER_01 19:47

Absolutely. It's been a pleasure.

SPEAKER_00 19:50

Thank you.