AAVS News
October 22, 2026
A promise that will outlive us
Dear Friend,
This is National Estate Planning Awareness Week, a good time to think about the legacy you want to leave. As a member of AAVS’s community, you already participate in defending animals from inhumane experimentation and providing long-term care for animals rescued from labs. With a gift in your will, your compassion can keep protecting them for generations.
Our planned giving guide provides key information about ways that you can make a legacy for animals. You can download it from our website or we’ll mail it to you for free.
Arden is a chimpanzee who was born in a research laboratory in Louisiana and went to the Chimp Haven sanctuary with her mother, Passion. She’s come a long way from her heartbreaking past—today she’s bright and ambitious. When staff feed the chimps, she hides fruit behind her back and eats it when the higher-ranking chimps aren’t looking.
Chimpanzees can live 60 years or longer, so Arden will likely continue to need care long after many of us are gone. Thanks to you, AAVS has pledged to fund the lifetime care of Arden and six other chimps born in the same lab. This costs an average of $20,000 for each chimp every year.
Promises like this are only possible because of you. For more than 140 years, AAVS has worked to end the use of animals in science, and bequests are essential to our work. Supporters who have included AAVS in their wills and estate plans have helped make today’s victories possible. Now you can help make tomorrow’s victories possible.
If you let us know of your intention to include AAVS in your will or estate plan, we will invite you to the Caroline Earle White Society, named for our visionary founder. You’ll be part of a community of compassionate people whose generosity will protect animals for decades to come.
I encourage you to click here today to get your free guide to planned giving. It will help you to work with a legal or financial advisor to create a plan that reflects your values. The guide describes possibilities such as making AAVS a beneficiary of your life insurance policy, retirement account, or donor advised fund. It also highlights tax advantages and includes resources in case you’re suddenly unable to care for your companion animals.
Furthermore, if you’d like to talk about your legacy, don’t hesitate to contact me at lklein@aavs.org or 215-887-0816.
For the Animals,
Luke Klein
CEO
P.S. Have you already included AAVS in your will or estate plan? If so, please let me know so I can thank you personally and welcome you to the Caroline Earle White Society.