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Leave a Legacy

Make a lasting impact on the future work of RCS and our students.

An orchestra and chior rehearse for the Christmas event.

Why Leave a Legacy?

As a charity, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland relies on funding and donations to support the next generation of artists.

By choosing to leave a legacy to RCS, your gift will go directly to the RCS Scholarship Fund, which is managed by the Trustees of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland Trust. If you choose to, you can leave a scholarship to a specific area or discipline and your legacy will be used in that particular way.

Gifts left in wills allow supporters to make a lasting impact on the future work of RCS and our students. General bequests will be given out at the discretion of the scholarship panel.

Frequently Asked Questions

The best person to contact about leaving RCS a legacy is a solicitor, many of whom specialise in this area. More useful information about this is available from The Law Society

Not at all. Any gift you leave to RCS would be hugely welcomed and would go directly to supporting our programmes and enhancing the student experience.

This really depends on the amount donated. In general terms, there are two types of scholarship fund; endowment and ‘spend out’. Endowed scholarships are invested in the RCS Endowment Trust and then the capital is used for scholarship. This is a good way of ensuring a scholarship lasts in perpetuity and is recommended for gifts of £20,000 and over. The amount given out annually would depend on investment yield at that time.

The RCS Endowment Trust is a separate entity, governed by its own board of trustees.

A ‘spend down’ scholarship is recommended for anything under £20,000 and is where a specific portion is given from the legacy donation until the gift is spent. So, for a donation of £10,000 for example you could say that you would like an RCS student to receive £2,000 for the next 5 years. Once this gift has been fully spent out, that scholarship would cease to exist.

We would really love to hear from you if you decide to leave RCS a gift in your will. It allows us to thank you, invite to special donor events and to keep you up to date with any RCS news.

Ways to Support

As well as one-off and monthly donations, there are plenty of ways you can support the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

Any and all support is greatly appreciated by us, our students, and our staff and helps ensure the longevity of the Conservatoire for generations to come.

Find out more on our dedicated pages: