How to notify Guide Dogs when someone dies

Last updated 15 July 2026

Reviewed by the After Loss Guide editorial team · updated 15 July 2026

Researched from primary sources. See our editorial policy.

Guide Dogs – officially The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association – relies heavily on supporters who give regularly, sponsor a puppy, or remember the charity in their will. If someone who supported Guide Dogs in any of these ways has died, their relationship with the charity doesn’t end automatically. Someone needs to tell Guide Dogs directly, both to close the supporter record and to stop the letters, emails, and calls that would otherwise keep arriving in their name.

This guide covers how to notify Guide Dogs of a death, what to have ready when you call, what happens to a regular donation or puppy sponsorship, and how to deal with in-memory giving or a legacy gift left in the will.

For a full list of organisations to notify after a death, see what to do when someone dies.

How to notify Guide Dogs

Guide Dogs handles most bereavement-related contact through its Supporter Experience team, which manages regular donations, puppy sponsorships, and general supporter enquiries.

To stop a regular donation or puppy sponsorship, cancel mailings, or update a supporter’s record, contact Supporter Experience:

If the deceased left a gift to Guide Dogs in their will, this is handled separately by the dedicated Legacy Administration team rather than Supporter Experience – see the section below on legacy gifts.

If the family wants to give in the person’s memory, this is also a separate route, run through the charity’s Gifts in Memory team.

If you or a family member need general advice on sight loss services rather than a donation or supporter query, the Guide Line is available on 0800 781 1444 (email information@guidedogs.org.uk), staffed by advisers who can help with services, guide dog access, and support for adults, children, and families. This line is separate from Supporter Experience – it isn’t the right number for stopping a regular gift, but it’s worth knowing about if the deceased had a guide dog or used Guide Dogs’ services themselves.

When you call or write to Supporter Experience, explain that the supporter has died and give their full name and address – a supporter reference number, if you have one, speeds things up but isn’t essential. It appears on any recent donation confirmation or mailing label from the charity.

Source: Guide Dogs – contact us, verified July 2026.

What documents you’ll need

Guide Dogs’ requirements for stopping a regular donation or supporter mailings are lighter than a bank or pension provider, because a regular gift or puppy sponsorship is a charitable subscription rather than a financial account holding the deceased’s own money.

DocumentNotes
Deceased's full name and addressThe minimum needed to locate and close the supporter record
Supporter reference numberSpeeds up the call but not essential – found on donation confirmations or mailing labels
Your relationship to the deceasedNeeded so Supporter Experience can update the record appropriately
Death certificateNot published as a requirement for stopping a regular donation or mailings – this process is phone- and email-based rather than document-led

The picture is different if you’re an executor dealing with a legacy gift left to Guide Dogs in the will – that process, run by the Legacy Administration team, is covered below.

What happens to the donation or puppy sponsorship

Once Supporter Experience has been notified, any regular donation or puppy sponsorship set up by direct debit or standing order is cancelled and no further payments are collected. If a payment is taken after you’ve notified Guide Dogs, or after the direct debit has been cancelled at the bank, you’re entitled to an immediate refund under the Direct Debit Guarantee. As a backstop, it’s worth also cancelling the instruction directly with the deceased’s bank – see our guide to what happens to direct debits when someone dies for the full process.

Any Gift Aid declaration linked to the supporter’s record ends automatically once the regular donation stops – there is nothing separate for the family to action with HMRC.

Mailings and appeals. Notifying Supporter Experience should stop future post, email, and phone contact addressed to the deceased. As with most large fundraising charities, it can take one or two mailing cycles for this to filter through fully across every list, so it’s worth flagging again if post continues to arrive some weeks later.

If the family wants to give in memory of the person, Guide Dogs offers several dedicated routes, entirely separate from closing the supporter record:

  • Funeral collections – either an online collection page you can share with a link to the funeral details and photos, or pre-paid physical collection envelopes that guests can use and return. To order envelopes, call 0800 953 0113 or email giftsinmemory@guidedogs.org.uk
  • A Tribute Fund – a free, personalised online page in the person’s name where family and friends can donate and raise funds, which can also be used to collect money towards naming a guide dog puppy
  • Name a Puppy – naming a guide dog puppy in the person’s memory and following its training journey (Gift Aid contributions don’t count towards the fundraising target for this)
  • A memorial brick in one of Guide Dogs’ commemorative pathways at its regional training centres, with a personal dedication
  • Taking part in, or organising, a fundraising event in the person’s memory

None of these require the deceased’s own supporter record to be closed first, and they can be set up at any time.

If a collection has already been gathered at a funeral, cheques should be made payable to “Guide Dogs” or “The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association” and sent, for the attention of the Gifts in Memory team, to Guide Dogs, Hillfields, Burghfield Common, Reading RG7 3YG. Guide Dogs asks that cash is not sent by post. The charity will acknowledge receipt and keep the family updated with the total raised in the person’s memory, even if further donations arrive separately after the funeral.

Source: Guide Dogs – donate in memory, Guide Dogs – gifts in memory for families FAQs, verified July 2026.

Legacy gifts left in a will

If the deceased left a gift to Guide Dogs in their will, this is dealt with by a dedicated Legacy Administration team, separate from both Supporter Experience and the Gifts in Memory team. Guide Dogs asks executors to let the team know as soon as a legacy payment has been made, and administers all legacies centrally at its Reading head office:

Guide Dogs’ published guidance for lay executors sets out exactly how it accepts payment of a legacy gift:

Payment methodDetails
BACS transferBarclays Bank, sort code 20-65-82, account number 43870731 – quote your reference, or contact the Legacy Administration team first if you don't have one
ChequePayable to "Guide Dogs" or "The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association", sent to the Reading address above, with the deceased's name and your own name and address written on the back
In branchPaid in at any Barclays Bank branch, quoting the sort code and account number above

Whichever method you use, Guide Dogs asks that you always let the Legacy Administration team know the name of the person who remembered the charity in their will, so the gift can be recorded and acknowledged correctly.

Guide Dogs can also send executors a Gifts in Wills Guide and information about how legacy income is used, and can arrange a visit to one of its training schools if the family or executor would like to see the impact of the gift.

Source: Guide Dogs – Support for Executors FAQs, verified July 2026.

Probate and thresholds

Stopping a regular donation or closing a supporter record does not require probate – it’s a straightforward account closure, not an estate asset with a balance to release.

A legacy gift named in the will is different: it’s administered as part of the wider probate and estate process, alongside any other named beneficiary. The executor registers the gift with the Legacy Administration team using the contact details above, and payment follows once the estate is in a position to distribute it – typically once the Grant of Probate has been obtained and the estate’s debts and other liabilities are settled.

For general guidance on the probate process itself, see do I need probate and how long does probate take.

How long it takes

Notifying Supporter Experience stops a regular donation or puppy sponsorship within a few working days, though it can take one or two mailing cycles for post and appeals to fully stop across every list Guide Dogs holds.

A legacy gift runs on a different, longer timeline, governed by the wider probate process rather than the notification itself. Once the executor has registered the gift with the Legacy Administration team and sent payment by BACS, cheque, or bank branch, the transfer itself is quick – but this may be many months after the date of death if probate is still being administered, longer still for a residuary gift where the executor needs to finalise the whole estate first.

Tips and things to watch out for

Different purposes, different teams. Regular donations and puppy sponsorships go through Supporter Experience (0800 953 0113), funeral collections and in-memory giving go through the Gifts in Memory team (giftsinmemory@guidedogs.org.uk), and legacy gifts go to the Legacy Administration team on a separate number in Reading – mention up front which one you’re calling about, so you’re not passed between departments.

No death certificate required to stop a donation. Unlike banks and utility companies, Guide Dogs’ process for stopping a regular gift or mailings doesn’t ask for one – don’t delay notifying them while you wait for certified copies you need elsewhere.

Always name the person in the will. When paying a legacy gift by BACS, cheque, or in branch, Guide Dogs specifically asks executors to confirm the name of the person who left the gift – without it, the charity may struggle to match the payment to the right estate and acknowledge it correctly.

Don’t send cash by post. For funeral collections gathered in cash, Guide Dogs asks that you don’t post cash directly – pay it in and send a cheque, or use the online collection option instead.

In-memory giving is entirely optional. There’s no obligation to set up a Tribute Fund, name a puppy, or dedicate a memorial brick when you close the account – many families simply want the donation stopped, and that’s a complete outcome in itself.

The Guide Line is for services, not accounts. The 0800 781 1444 number is for sight loss advice and guide dog services, not for administering a supporter record – if you call it about a donation, expect to be redirected to Supporter Experience.

Summary

To stop a regular donation or puppy sponsorship from Guide Dogs, call Supporter Experience on 0800 953 0113 or email guidedogs@guidedogs.org.uk. No death certificate is required for this. A legacy gift named in the will is handled separately by the Legacy Administration team (0118 983 5555, legacycaseteam@guidedogs.org.uk), who accept payment by BACS, cheque, or in branch at Barclays. Giving in memory, through a funeral collection, Tribute Fund, or Name a Puppy scheme, is optional and entirely separate from either process.

For everything else involved in settling an estate, the what to do after a death hub covers each organisation and service you may need to notify. If the deceased also supported Marie Curie, Macmillan Cancer Support, Cancer Research UK, the British Heart Foundation, Alzheimer’s Society, RNIB, or the RSPB, see our guides to notifying Marie Curie when someone dies, notifying Macmillan Cancer Support when someone dies, notifying Cancer Research UK when someone dies, notifying British Heart Foundation when someone dies, notifying Alzheimer’s Society when someone dies, notifying RNIB when someone dies, and notifying the RSPB when someone dies.

Sources

For a full checklist of organisations to notify after a death, see what to do when someone dies.