Your love for animals can create a lasting impact beyond your lifetime. By including Houston Humane Society in your estate plans, you ensure that vulnerable animals continue to receive lifesaving care for generations to come! A legacy gift provides a stable foundation for our mission, helping us rescue, heal, and find loving homes for Houston’s animals—just as your support does today.
Planning ahead also means caring for the pets who are part of your own family. Through our Guardian Angels Program, you can make arrangements to ensure your beloved pet is provided for and placed in a safe and loving home.
Learn more below about how you can leave a legacy of compassion today and join our Legacy for Life Society.
Start Planning Your Legacy
There are several ways you can leave a legacy gift. Think of it as “endowing” your current annual gift!
- Charitable Bequest – Designate Houston Humane Society as a beneficiary in your will or Trust. Leave a specific amount, percentage, or property to ensure a lasting impact. Contact your attorney for more information.
- IRA Charitable Distributions – Designate Houston Humane Society as a beneficiary of your retirement account or make gifts from the account now. IRS rules allow charitable distributions in place of required minimum distributions for those 70 ½ years old or older. These donations from your account fulfill your distribution requirement, but incur NO tax! Contact your IRA institution for more information.
- Appreciated Stock – one of the best ways to benefit Houston Humane Society, and to save on taxes at the same time, is to donate highly-appreciated stock. If you are a “buy and hold” investor, you probably have seen some great gains. With the stock market testing record highs, those gains also come with a capital gains tax. Making your gift through a stock transfer avoids that tax! Instead of selling the stock, paying the tax, and then donating the remainder, just transfer a number of shares directly to Houston Humane Society, and you get a tax deduction for the full current value, PLUS avoid the capital gains tax!
- Insurance Gifts – you can also name Houston Humane Society as the beneficiary of your insurance policy. Or name us as the “contingent” beneficiary, which means if your other family beneficiaries aren’t around, you’d like it to come to us. This can be for an existing policy, or for a new policy. In fact, some donors set up a new policy to “insure” their annual gift continues after they are gone.
Guardian Angels Program
We understand that pets are not merely animal companions, but are members of your family. When creating a will, your pet(s) should also be considered and included. Houston Humane Society’s Guardian Angels Program provides your precious pet a place to stay until they are adopted to a new loving family.
Become a Legacy for Life Society Member Today!
1.
Click here to fill out the
Legacy for Life Society Intent Form.
2. Have pets? Start the Guardian Angels Program enrollment process:
a.
Click here to fill out the
Guardian Angels Program Intent Form
3. Contact us if you have any questions! Please email
donations@houstonhumane.org or call 713-341-3334, and a member of our Development team will be happy to assist you.