Planned Giving
Your Legacy is Wildlife in Crisis’s Future!
Bequests are an essential source of support for Wildlife in Crisis . As we confront the challenges of the future, your generosity will play an important role in ensuring the growth and sustainability of our services. Planned giving enables Wildlife in Crisis to remain a safe haven for wildlife in perpetuity.
Planned gifts of all sizes can have a profound impact on the vital work we do. They can also provide tax incentives like reducing estate income taxes.
Why should I leave a gift to Wildlife in Crisis ?
Since 1988, Wildlife in Crisis (WIC) has been the sole all-species wildlife care center in Fairfield County, Connecticut. In that time, literally tens of thousands of debilitated wild birds, mammals and reptiles have passed through the WIC clinic, headed for a second chance at life in the wild. Our environmental education programs provide practical solutions to common wildlife problems. And through the WIC land trust we seek to protect threatened ecosystems.
WIC gives you the opportunity to make tax-wise gifts to help wildlife in need. Planned gifts provide the resources we need to succeed, and enable us to prepare future programs and strategies. You don’t have to be wealthy to make a planned gift. People of every age and income level can make a planned gift to ensure that wildlife will have a secure future.
What kinds of gifts can I leave to Wildlife in Crisis?
The following are the types of planned gifts you can make to WIC, a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. Many gifts have attractive tax benefits.
- Gifts of cash (the easiest and most common gift)
- Bequests – Reduce the size of your taxable estate while helping our native wildlife. Bequests can be made in a variety of ways:
- Specific bequest: You decide now exactly how much money, what assets, or what percentage of your estate will pass to Wildlife in Crisis after your death.
The following is a suggested form for such a bequest: “I hereby give and bequeath [amount in dollars or percentage amount] to Wildlife in Crisis, a non-profit, tax-exempt organization, to be used for the accomplishment of its general purposes.”
If you prefer, you may designate a specific purpose for our use of your bequest. If a restricted gift is your preference, please contact us before finalizing arrangements so that we can be sure we’ll be able to fulfill your wishes.
- Residuary bequest: You can specify the portion of your estate that will pass to Wildlife in Crisis after other designated beneficiaries receive their specified gifts, and after expenses are paid.
- Contingent bequest: All or a portion of your estate will pass to Wildlife in Crisis only if the named beneficiaries do not survive you.
- Specific bequest: You decide now exactly how much money, what assets, or what percentage of your estate will pass to Wildlife in Crisis after your death.
- Gifts of publicly traded securities – These are easy to give and offer great tax advantages. Stock can be transferred electronically and donors can receive substantial relief from capital gains taxes.
- Naming Wildlife in Crisis a beneficiary of your life insurance plan, retirement account or bank account
How to add Wildlife in Crisis to your will
Call your attorney. He or she can help you draft a new will, or help you add a codicil to your existing will naming WIC as a beneficiary.
Our official name and address is:
Wildlife in Crisis, Inc.
P.O. Box 1246
Weston, CT 06883
Our EIN number is: 22-3020015
Note – It is important to fully discuss the implications of your gift with your tax or estate specialist. Gifts will have differing tax implications depending on the size of your estate, other charitable gifts you plan to make, etc.
For more information or to discuss making a planned gift, please contact WIC at wildlifeincrisis@snet.net, or call 203-544-9913.