Leave a Daring Legacy
Including Daring Girls in your estate plans is a meaningful way to ensure that girls will continue to gain the confidence, mentorship, and support they need for generations to come. Planned gifts—such as naming Daring Girls as a beneficiary in your will, living trust, or retirement account—allow you to create a lasting legacy aligned with your overall financial, tax, and legacy planning goals.
If you have already included Daring Girls in your plans—or if you would like support for having this conversation—we would love to talk with you. Contact us at hello@daringgirls.org and we will support you in any way needed.
Even a small percentage of your estate can make an extraordinary impact on a girl's future, helping her stay in school, realize her leadership potential, and confidently design her own future.
Getting Started
To add Daring Girls to your estate plans, simply speak with your financial advisor, attorney, or the administrator of your retirement or life insurance accounts. They can guide you through listing Daring Girls as a beneficiary or adding a charitable bequest to your will or trust. Our legal name is Daring Girls, and we are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (EIN: 84-1549841).
Enjoy Benefits in Your Lifetime
Letting us know that you have included Daring Girls in your legacy plans allows us to honor your generosity and ensure your intentions are carried forward. Legacy donors receive early access to reserve spots on Daring Girls partner visits, special recognition at select events, and annual opportunities to connect directly with key partners and program staff who bring our mission to life. Sharing this information with us is completely confidential and non-binding—it simply helps us thank you now, ensure your gift is used exactly as you intend, and welcome you into a community of supporters who are shaping the future for girls.
Their Lasting Legacy
"My mother was a firm believer in education as a path to a more comfortable and enriching life. In particular, she worried about those children and young people who were shut out of educational opportunities because they could not afford it or were in cultures where educational opportunity was limited. Mom never forgot what her college scholarship did for her. "
Colin Ware, on his mother Judith Ware’s legacy
Discover Judith Ware’s Story
My mother passed away in the fall of 2023. She was in her 92nd year. Born in 1932, at the height of the Depression, she knew nothing but poverty in her early life. She never got over her fear of not having enough money and left a fairly large estate, a lot of which is going to charity.
She was smart and ambitious, earning a full scholarship to Reed College where she met my father. They both went on to earn PhDs in Chemistry at University of Rochester. They also had two kids, me and my sister, Lorraine.
Her career never thrived in the male-dominated world of science in the mid-to-late 20th century, a source of bitterness. Even my father, who went on to a fruitful academic career, said she was the smarter of the two. In some ways, my sister becoming a successful academic physician completes the journey my mother started.
Mom found her joy in the mountains and in travel. She was a Sierra Club leader who climbed the 100 Peaks list in Southern California (280 peaks) twice and the Desert Peaks list (95 peaks) fully once and was well on her way to a second when aging finally slowed her down. Hiking with her could turn into a day-long affair. If there was another peak in the vicinity that she hadn’t climbed, we were pretty much certain to climb it as well.
She visited more than 50 countries, choosing mostly developing nations over wealthy, to visit their mountains and learn about their cultures. We suspect that these countries are also cheaper to visit didn’t hurt either!
She was fortunate to live independently for most of her adult life. She hated losing that independence (and her car!). Her idea of a good death was having a heart attack on a hike deep in the wilderness. Sadly, dementia struck her in the last three years of her life. The transition to assisted living, and then memory care, was hard on her. It was heartbreaking to see her body, and her beautiful mind, fail her.
My mother was never a cuddly sentimental sort. She watched me play in a curling tournament about five years ago, and her only comment was I needed to practice more (an accurate observation). She could be cranky and stubborn, but she was a deeply kind and caring person.
From her I learned much about self-discipline, the joy of the outdoors, compassion for others, and living for now, not the future. I’m not as good a saver, though!
Her frugality left a large donor-advised fund, and Lorraine and I are thrilled to be able to give that away. It was rare for women of her generation to earn doctorates and have scientific careers. Lorraine and I want to honor her memory by making gifts in her name to charities she would have been happy to support.
My mother was a firm believer in education as a path to a more comfortable and enriching life. In particular, she worried about those children and young people who were shut out of educational opportunities because they could not afford it or were in cultures where educational opportunity was limited. Mom never forgot what her college scholarship did for her.
She would love Daring Girls. The mission would speak to her, and she would have been thrilled to see the outcomes of her generosity. The videos we see of the young women, their joy in learning and their gratitude, would have pleased her.
It gives us great pleasure to support the young women in the Daring Girls programs. My mom would be pleased as well.
Colin Ware
"Daring Girls is one of three top legacy giving commitments I have made in my will. As a single person with no children, I wanted to continue making an impact in the areas of empowering girls and education opportunities. I am confident that my gift to Daring Girls will do both. I've seen firsthand the power and efficacy of Binti Shupavu and Kisa programs in the lives of girls and adult alumnae."
Rodney D Bell
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A few years ago after my parents had passed away, I thoughtfully revised my will to reflect my life experiences, values and priorities. My mother and two younger sisters greatly impacted my development as a person, and some of my important professional mentors were women. As a first generation college graduate who lived and trained young professionals in Zimbabwe, I remain indebted to the transformative power of education and cross-cultural experiences. These influences came to the forefront with an opportunity to join the Daring Girls (then AfricAid) Board of Directors in 2019.
Daring Girls is one of three top legacy giving commitments I have made in my will. As a single person with no children, I wanted to continue making an impact in the areas of empowering girls and education opportunities. I am confident that my gift to Daring Girls will do both. I’ve seen firsthand the power and efficacy of Binti Shupavu and Kisa programs in the lives of girls and adult alumnae.
More impressed the longer and deeper my involvement, I joined a group of other avid supporters on a Daring Girls fundraising Kilimanjaro climb with program alumae and mentors. Following our summit, I spent two days visiting with GLAMI and traveling to two schools to meet young mentees and mentors. My head and heart were blown away. The testimony of an alumnae starting her own business, a roadside kiosk serving breakfast and lunch on a main road to manufacturing plants, inspired me. The confident responses from middle school girls at a rural school reached down a long, bumpy, dusty, rural road filled me with pride. The intentional joy and dedication was illustrated in story after story from GLAMI mentors and staff.
Over the past two years, I’ve had pleasure of hosting two of Daring Girls’ newest Binti Shupavu partner leaders the day before our gala. I was energized by the excitement of both as they talked about how Daring Girls has wowed them, and the solid foundations they’ve established as Daring Girls expands into new countries like Kenya and Zambia. What great satisfaction to know that as I someday recede into the past, I will have given something to the future of young women in a part of Africa that remains a second home to me.
