Lifesaver Society & Planned Giving

Securing a Safe Future for Your Pets & Creating a Lasting Legacy

At Animal Friends, our Lifesaver Society offers peace of mind by ensuring your pet’s future care with a planned gift to Animal Friends. Your gift supports immediate medical, behavioral, and social care until your pet finds a loving home. Including Animal Friends in your estate planning creates a lasting legacy, helping thousands of homeless animals for years to come.

Emergency Boarding

Lifesaver Society

Lifesaver Society: Ensuring a Safe Future for Your Pets

Many pet owners have a plan in place for their pets if something happens to them, but in some cases, that may not be possible. At Animal Friends, we offer peace of mind with the Lifesaver Society.

By making a planned gift of $5,000 for your first pet and $2,500 for each additional pet, you can ensure your animal’s future with us. As a member, your pet will receive immediate care in our compassionate, holistic network, including medical, behavioral, and social support, until they are matched with a loving adoptive home.

Program Highlights:

  • Immediate Admission: Your pet will be accepted into our care, even if there is a waiting list.

  • Personalized Care: You can provide detailed care instructions for your pet’s future guardians.

  • Foster Homes: If adoption is not immediate, your pet will stay in a loving foster home.

  • Ongoing Support: Your pet will receive socialization, enrichment, and medical care while in our care.

  • Thoughtful Placement: We guarantee a thoughtful adoption match, with follow-up check-ins after placement.

  • Commitment for Life: No animal is ever euthanized for cost or space reasons.

Legacy Gift Options

Animal Friends accepts planned gifts through cash bequests, real estate, or investment assets.

All animals adopted through the Lifesaver Society will be spayed/neutered, microchipped, and guaranteed a place back in our care if needed.

Join Us

To ensure your wishes are honored, please complete a non-binding Declaration of Intent. This helps us keep in touch with you about your plans and our lifesaving work.


Questions?

If you have questions, please contact Susan Salyards at 412.847.7080 or ssalyards@ThinkingOutsideTheCage.org.

Foster a pet

Your Benefits

Leaving a gift in your will costs you nothing now—just your signature and a completed Lifesaver Society Declaration of Intent. You can change your mind at any time, with no obligation. This is a way to care for your pet(s) while creating a lasting legacy with Animal Friends. Your gift shows your commitment to improving the lives of animals in need.

Our Promises

  • You’ll be recognized for your generosity, though you can remain anonymous if preferred.
  • Your gift will be used as intended, ensuring compassionate care and a loving, permanent home for your pet(s).
  • You can modify your plans at any time.
  • As a Four-Star Rated Charity by Charity Navigator, we meet the highest standards of financial integrity and transparency.

Key Information

Legal name: Animal Friends, Inc.
Tax ID Number: 25- 0951565
Incorporated in: Pittsburgh, PA

Animal Friends does not render legal or tax advice. When considering a planned gift, the services of an attorney or other professional advisor should be obtained. The purpose of this publication is to provide accurate information of a general nature only.

Planned Giving

Ensuring a Legacy of Compassion for Our Animal Friends

Including Animal Friends in your estate planning is a meaningful way to create a lasting legacy and ensure a second chance to thousands of homeless animals. By leaving a gift for Animal Friends in your will, trust, or other account, you’re making your love for animals and their well-being part of your life story. For years to come, your gift will help Animal Friends.

adoptable rabbit kennel application

Program Materials

Planned Giving

Or, explore the many other ways you can ensure that Animal Friends will be able to save lives into the future.

A Gift in Your Will of Living Trust

A simple way to ensure Animal Friends can continue its lifesaving work for years to come is by making a gift in your will or living trust, known as a charitable bequest.

Bequests can be made in the form of a specific dollar amount or property. Alternatively, your whole estate or a certain percentage or residue of your estate can be left to Animal Friends.

Your planned gift also entitles your estate to an unlimited federal estate tax charitable deduction.

For your convenience, we have provided some suggested language that you could use in your will or estate. Please feel free to adapt this language with your attorney to fit your individual situation.

Specific Gift Language

I give and devise to Animal Friends, Inc., (Tax ID # 25-0951565) located in Pittsburgh, PA, the sum of $___________ (or asset) to be used for its general support (or for the support of a specific program).

Residual Gift Language (a residual gift comes to us after all other estate expenses and bequests are paid).

I give and devise to Animal Friends, Inc., (Tax ID # 25-0951565) located in Pittsburgh, PA, all (or ____ percentage) of the rest, residue and remainder of my estate, both real and personal, to be used for its general support (or for the support of a specific fund or program).

Beneficiary Designation

A gift by beneficiary designation is one of the easiest ways to give. Simply name Animal Friends as a beneficiary to receive assets such as retirement plans, life insurance policies or any other beneficiary assets. You simply fill out a beneficiary designation form separate from your will and designate Animal Friends, Inc. as a full or partial beneficiary.

It’s not only an easy way to give, it’s also flexible – you aren’t locked into the choices you make today. You can review and adjust beneficiary designations anytime you want.

You can name Animal Friends beneficiary of the following assets:

  • Retirement Plans including IRAs and 401k’s
  • Life Insurance
  • Annuities
  • Bank Accounts, Certificates of Deposit or Brokerage Accounts

Your financial or legal advisor can provide guidance on which assets will or will not trigger taxable income when paid to a beneficiary.

Charitable Trust

Do you want to benefit from the tax savings that result from supporting Animal Friends, but don’t want to give up assets that you’d like your family to receive? You can have it both ways with a charitable trust.

There are two types of charitable trusts you can choose from:

Charitable Remainder Trusts

A charitable remainder trust is established by transferring money or assets into a trust under which a trustee is directed to make income distributions to non-charitable beneficiaries for a period of time. At the end of the term, the remainder of the trust assets are then passed outright to Animal Friends.

Charitable Lead Trusts

A charitable lead trust is essentially the reverse of a charitable remainder trust. You can establish a trust that pays the income to Animal Friends for a term (you can choose any number of years), then the property either reverts to you, as the donor, or passes to another specified non-charitable beneficiary.

We encourage you to work with a qualified attorney or financial advisor to provide guidance with setting up a trust.

Retirement Accounts

Another easy and flexible way you can support Animal Friends is by designating Animal Friends as a beneficiary of your retirement accounts or other financial accounts including brokerage accounts and CDs as well as money market, savings and checking accounts.

Many people don’t know that their retirement and other financial accounts can be a simple and practical way to not only help Animal Friends but even themselves at tax time. Through a beneficiary designation form, you can add Animal Friends as a beneficiary of 10, 20 or even 100 percent. You can also name Animal Friends as a secondary beneficiary in case someone you have named is unable to claim his or her portion.

If you are 70 ½ years old or older, you can give up to $100,000 from your IRA directly to a qualified charity like Animal Friends without having to pay income taxes on the money you donate.

This law no longer has an expiration date so you are free to make annual gifts to our organization allowing you to see the difference your donation is making today. If you have not yet taken your required minimum distribution for the year, your IRA charitable rollover gift can satisfy all or part of that requirement.

To name Animal Friends on your beneficiary designation form, please use the following information:

Animal Friends, Inc.
562 Camp Horne Road,
Pittsburgh, PA 15237

Tax ID#: 25 – 0951565
501 (c)(3) Organization

Life Insurance
Stocks, Mutual Funds and Other Gifts
Declaration of Intent

Your Benefits

  • It costs you nothing now to leave a gift in your will and it takes nothing more than your signature.
  • You can change your mind at any time. You’re not locked into your decision.
  • There’s no minimum gift. Any amount you give is gratefully welcomed and will make a difference in the life of an animal.
  • You can provide for your loved ones and at the same time create your legacy with Animal Friends.

Our Promises

  • You’ll be recognized for your generosity. Of course, you can remain anonymous if you prefer.
  • Your gift will be used in the way that you intend.
  • You can change your plans or your beneficiaries at any time.
  • As a multi-year Four Star Rated Charity through Charity Navigator, you can be assured we meet the highest standards of financial transparency and integrity.

We want your legacy gift to do exactly what you intend it to do. Providing us with documentation is the best way to ensure that your wishes are honored. We ask that you complete a confidential Letter of Intention so that we can have a written record of your generosity. It’s a non-binding agreement, strictly for our records so we can stay in touch with you about your intentions and interests as well as keep you up to date on our lifesaving work.

There are many ways that you can include Animal Friends in your estate planning. For more information, please contact our Development team at 412.847.7080 or Development@ThinkingOutsideTheCage.org.

Key Information

Legal name: Animal Friends, Inc.
Tax ID Number: 25- 0951565
Incorporated in: Pittsburgh, PA

Animal Friends does not render legal or tax advice. When considering a planned gift, the services of an attorney or other professional advisor should be obtained. The purpose of this publication is to provide accurate information of a general nature only.

Testimonials

Cheryl J.

I've had Tuttie (Tooty) for a week today. She's settling in really nice. I'm starting to see some of her personality and it's adorable. She's a lover girl for sure.

She's smart as she has learned some commands and aims to please. I want to thank Animal Friends for giving me a chance to give Tuttie a second chance. You guys are amazing. She's bringing a lot of joy to our house and we love her very much. She found her forever home.

Katelyn E.

I absolutely LOVE this place and what they're doing for these animals as well as those of us who come there to take one of these sweet babies to their forever home.

Setting up a meet and greet was a breeze, the facility was beautiful and I will never ever get another pet from anywhere except for here!!

Alexandra S.

We’ve gotten two of the sweetest cats from this rescue, and they are very good about making sure the animals go to the best fit home.

Angela B.

We adopted a 2-year old cat 6 months ago. I cannot say enough nice things about Animal Friends.

In addition to clinical history and recommendations, they included a behavioral assessment which proved to be accurate and pages of instructions for acclimatizing the new cat. Our Beanz has been a joy to our lives. Their fee was so low, we sent them a contribution.

Denise L.

Wonderful place! I took my chihuahua to the small dog socials and it really helped his anxiety! The staff and volunteers are great!

James B.

Got this beautiful girl today from Animal Friends. Everything was perfect. She's got her forever home thanks to them. Time to spoil her.

Meg P.

I cannot speak more highly of this animal shelter. The volunteers and staff are amazing and show a true love for their work that they do. The kennels are in great condition and every time I stop by it is very clean. I donate regularly because I am impressed by the work the organization does on a daily basis.

Carol E.

Animal friends is a fantastic organization the staff and the doctors there are top-notch. They really care for your pet.. they try their hardest to keep prices down and make vet care affordable for everyone. I just love it there.

Stephanie H.

Animal Friends is an amazing place and much needed in this area. The low cost/no cost services they provide such as spay/neuter, rabies shots, initial immunizations, disease testing, flea treatment, etc. are essential for the public and their pets.

The staff is amazing, efficient and always willing to take the extra time to address a client's questions/concerns. The facilities are clean and very well kept up.
I travel an hour and a half each way to bring my pets here and will not take them anywhere else!

Kerry W.

Such a clean, organized and loving environment! Beautiful campus and very well run organization.