Leave a Lasting Impact
How to Secure Your Legacy
Our pets give us companionship, comfort, unconditional love, and a bond that shapes our lives in ways we never expected. A planned gift to AAWL is a meaningful way to honor that bond while ensuring that pet families across Arizona continue to receive the care and support they need for generations to come.
At AAWL, Arizona’s oldest and largest no-kill shelter, we’ve spent more than 50 years working alongside our community to keep pets and families together. Your legacy gift helps make sure that work never stops.
There are several ways to include AAWL in your long-term plans:
Bequest through your will or living trust
Appreciated stock or securities
Multi-year pledge
Donor advised fund
Qualified charitable distribution from IRA
Other tax favorable opportunities
When you include AAWL in your estate plans, you automatically become a member of the Legacy League: our community of dedicated partners whose generosity extends far into the future.
To learn more or begin the conversation, we’d be honored to hear from you.
Bequest Options & Sample Attorney Language
Working with your attorney or financial advisor to include AAWL in your will, trust, or codicil is a straightforward process. Below you’ll find sample language your attorney can use to make your wishes official, feel free to share it directly with them.
Specific Bequest
A specific bequest designates a defined dollar amount, percentage of your estate, or particular property to AAWL. Here is sample language to share with your attorney:
“I give, devise and bequeath ____% of my estate (or specific assets) for the benefit of the Arizona Animal Welfare League, 25 N 40th St, Phoenix, AZ 85034, FEIN 23-7149453, to be used for its general purposes.”
Residuary Bequest
A residuary bequest directs the remaining portion of your estate to AAWL after all other terms of your will have been satisfied. Here is sample language to share with your attorney:
“All the rest, residue, and remainder of my estate, both real and personal, I give to the Arizona Animal Welfare League, 25 N 40th St, Phoenix, AZ 85034, FEIN 23-7149453, to be used for its general purposes.”
Contingency Bequest
A contingency bequest allows you to designate AAWL as a beneficiary if your primary named beneficiary does not survive you. Here is sample language to share with your attorney:
“If (beneficiary) does not survive me, I devise and bequeath my residuary estate to the Arizona Animal Welfare League, 25 N 40th St, Phoenix, AZ 85034, FEIN 23-7149453, to be used for its general purposes.”
Restricted Bequest
A restricted bequest allows you to designate exactly how your gift will be used, whether to establish a named endowment or to support a specific program, such as AAWL’s Community Vet Clinic. If you have a particular area of our work that speaks to you, we’d love to help you direct your gift accordingly.
Other Giving Options
You can also include AAWL through real estate, IRAs, insurance policies, and personal property. Charitable gift annuities and stock gifts are also meaningful planned giving options that may offer significant tax advantages. Trusts can provide life income while ultimately benefiting AAWL and the community we serve together.