Legacy & Planned Giving

Including the Center for Great Apes in your estate planning is a wonderful way to leave a lasting legacy that will help ensure a lifetime of care for endangered orangutans and chimpanzees that must remain in captivity. Your gift will be used to support the mission of the Sanctuary by providing food, care, shelter, and medical services for our great apes. Properly planned charitable giving can also provide substantial tax benefits to you and your family, both now and in the future.

There are a number of ways to invest in and shape the future of the Center for Great Apes that allow you to contribute to charity and potentially receive income tax deductions, supplement retirement income, and plan for the smooth transfer of your estate to your heirs. Your financial advisor, attorney, and tax professional can advise you on which alternatives may best accomplish your charitable goals, and help you determine which assets might be most appropriate to gift.

Make a gift for the Center for Great Ape’s future that doesn't affect your cash flow or portfolio now. Put a bequest in your will (cash, specific property, or a share of the estate residue). Today, you can give a gift that costs you and your family nothing. Tomorrow, you receive an estate tax deduction.

Center for the Great Apes has partnered with FreeWill, an online tool that guides you through the process of creating a legally valid will. It’s easy to use, free of charge, and can be completed in 20 minutes or less. In addition to taking care of your loved ones and their future, you can use this tool to support the endangered orangutans and chimpanzees in our care for generations to come. Get started on free plans today.

Revocable living trusts are one of the most popular trusts set up for charitable purposes. A revocable living trust is a trust where you may take back or change the conditions of the trust. You retain control of the assets in the trust. During the life of the trust, income is earned and you may designate the earnings be paid to the Center for Great Apes, individuals such as your spouse or children, or use the earnings as income for yourself. Only after death does property transfer to the beneficiaries.

A charitable remainder trust is an irrevocable, tax-exempt trust in which you place assets to provide income for the Center for Great Apes for a specific period of time during your life (not to exceed 20 years). Upon the end of the fixed term or death, the named amount is distributed to the Center for Great Apes. There are no capital gains taxes on assets transferred to and sold through a charitable remainder trust.

With a charitable lead trust you place assets in the trust and specify a set number of years during which a guaranteed amount or a fixed percentage of the value of the assets will be paid to the Center for Great Apes. The remainder is left to your heirs. You receive a discounted gift tax when transferring assets to the trust, and the trust beneficiaries receive the remaining assets free of estate taxes.

Center for Great Apes can be named as a beneficiary upon death for many types of accounts, such as an IRA or 401(k), as well as being named a beneficiary of a life insurance policy. These types of donations allow your heirs to avoid estate and income taxes.

This type of donation may generate multiple tax benefits, one being a charitable income tax deduction of the market value on the date the asset is received by the Center for Great Apes. Another benefit is there is no capital gains tax on the appreciation. This form of donating is also convenient because most securities are transferred electronically.

Life estates allow you to make a substantial gift by donating your home, vacation home or farm without having to vacate the property or give up any benefits you currently enjoy from the property. You’ll receive a charitable tax deduction up front for the donation, but the gift’s benefits and responsibilities remain yours until the time of your choosing, which is usually upon death.

Endowments are funds made up of gifts and bequests that require the principal amount be preserved and only the income is used for the organization. Because use of the fund is restricted to a small portion each year, the fund can last forever. With a life expectancy of over 50 years for our great apes, future planning is essential to their long term care.

You can create an endowment or put a bequest in your will or living trust to specify that funds be added to our organization's general endowment. When your gift is invested as part of our endowment, it generates a total return (income plus growth) along with the rest of the endowment. As a portion of that return is paid out each year in your name, your gift will be providing income to support our mission.

Making a memorial gift to the Center for Great Apes honors someone you admired, loved, and respected. Your gift is a lasting tribute to the important part that he or she played in your life and our organization. It can establish a permanent link with the past and encourages others to participate in a vision for the future.