Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania’s ability to maintain our nature reserves and provide opportunities to learn about the natural work is make possible by our members and supporters, like you, who care deeply about the environment and are motivated to take action to protect it.
Membership benefits
- 10% discount on most items at Audubon Nature Store – including bird seed and native plants.
- Discounts on program fees including summer camps and Certified Backyard Habitat.
- Advance notice of sales, special events, and domestic/international birding opportunities.
- Subscription to The Bulletin, our member publication. The Bulletin is the newsletter of Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania. It contains ASWP news, our events calendar and articles on natural history and environmental issues of local significance. Members may choose to have it delivered directly to them by mail as a benefit.
- Updates on important scientific, conservation, and legislative issues.
- Invitations to members-only opportunities.
- That 100% good feeling you get from supporting our region’s birds and environment .
Join, renew, or give the gift of membership today
When you become a member of our nonprofit organization, you help us to continue sharing our programs, projects, and places with the people of western Pennsylvania. View our membership brochure
Did you know that membership support allows us to offer free naturalist-led walks and online programs every month?
Memorials, tributes, and honors
Give a gift that will help birds and nature thrive
When you give a memorial or commemorative gift to ASWP you are honoring someone commemorating a birthday, holiday, celebration, or life. These generous and thoughtful gifts also support birds and native wildlife at Audubon’s reserves. Call us to get started with your commemoration: 412-963-6100
Audubon offers commemorative bricks, trees, and benches. The plaques placed on benches or trees—or engraved in a brick—celebrate a person and preserve their legacy in a positive, thoughtful way. Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania reserves the right to reject plaque wording that does not meet these standards.
Memorials, tributes, and honors opportunities
Oak or Flowering Understory Tree
You can plant an oak or flowering understory tree at our nature reserve in memory or honor of a loved one. These trees will take the place of ash trees that have been attacked by the emerald ash borer. The trees will provide forested habitat for native species. When you make a donation to plant a tree in someone’s honor you cover the cost of purchasing the young tree, protecting it, and the initial care to ensure it has a healthy start. A plaque will be paced near the tree with your name, your family’s name, or the name of a loved one.
Call 412-963-6100 to order a commemorative tree.
- Tree planted within view of a trail: $500
- Tree planted along a trail with a plaque: $1000
Bench
Sometimes you need to take a break while hiking or you just need a place to stop and enjoy the view. Make a donation to have a bench placed at one of our nature sites. A plaque will be placed on the bench with your name, your family’s name, or the name of a loved one.
Call 412-963-6100 to order a commemorative bench.
- Wooden bench with plaque located along one of the trails: $1000
- Concrete/stone bench with plaque at selected location on property: $2500
Commemorative Brick Program
We are reconstructing the walkway leading to the front entrance of our nature store and Betsy’s Garden Shoppe at Beechwood Farms Nature Reserve. You can leave your mark on the pathway for visitors to see, while supporting ASWP through our commemorative brick program. Bricks are available in two sizes.
- 4×8 brick: $125
This brick may contain three lines of up to 14 characters (including spaces) per line or two lines of up to 17 characters (including spaces) per line. - 8×8: $250
This brick may contain four lines of up to 14 characters (including spaces) per line.
Bricks can be engraved with your name, your family’s name, the name of a loved one, or a saying of your choice.
Donate to support connection with nature
If you would simply like to make a monetary donation in honor of someone you can Donate Now. You will be asked if you are making a memorial or commemorative donation and can specify who you are honoring with your gift.
When you provide a notification address for the honoree or their next of kin we can send them a letter to let them know that a donation has been made. The donation amount will not be included in the letter. We can also list your name and the name of the person you are honoring in our quarterly newsletter, The Bulletin, which is mailed to ASWP members.
Memorial and commemorative gifts are tax-deductible. If you are interested in donating to plant an oak tree, having a bench placed at one of our reserves, or placing a brick in our walkway at Beechwood, please contact us at 412-963-6100.
Corporate support
Connect people to birds and nature
Help to connect people to birds and nature while benefitting your company, group, or organization. Underwriting or sponsoring a program at ASWP is a mutually beneficial way to support our mission while helping you to reach new audiences—and showcasing the good you’re doing in the community.
Sponsorships can differentiate your company from your competitors with prospective customers, cultivate awareness of your organization, and help any group achieve visibility. ASWP has loyal and supportive members who have the both means and inclination to support those who support us.
Corporate underwriting and sponsorship opportunities at ASWP can fit any business or organization’s needs, including annual events like Maple Madness or Creatures of the Night. We also have other options for sponsorship including community and family and environmental education programs.
For more information or to discuss how your company, group, or organization can benefit from sponsoring one of ASWP’s wide-range of programs, events, or initiatives, please contact info@aswp.org or call 412-963-6100.
Planned giving
Your contribution supports natural habitat, helps birds thrive, and connects people to nature.
We want to find the best way to help you make a donation that supports creating connections to birds and nature, while meeting your needs. Planned gifts help to accomplish that goal.
Your donation can be designated or undesignated. If you would like to have your gift go toward a specific project or use let us know. We can tell you if your gift can be used as you intend and make sure your support will only be used as a contribution toward that designated project. If you do not have a specific use in mind the ASWP board will determine how your undesignated gift can best be used to help special projects in need of funding, our endowment which supports the continuation of our mission, or our operations so that we can continue to keep our nature reserves open to the public and offer outreach programming to the Southwestern Pennsylvania community.
The information provided here summarizes some giving options. You should seek out your own advisors before pursuing any of these planned giving opportunities to gain a fuller understanding of them and determine what will work for you. Likewise, ASWP will work with our board and advisors to determine what the organization can responsibly manage. If you would like to pursue making an estate or planned gift please give us a call at 412-963-6100.
Planned giving opportunities
Bequests
Bequests are gifts from your will or trust that do not affect your cash flow during your lifetime. You can put this type of gift in place when you name Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania as a beneficiary in your will or living trust. If you already have a will, you can add us as a beneficiary by executing a one page amendment called a codicil. You can choose to designate a specific amount or asset as a donation or you can designate a percentage of your estate.
This type of gift is beneficial to you because it does not decrease your assets during your lifetime and contributions to a charity are tax free after a person has passed away. Also, if your situation changes, you can modify your gift.
Real estate
By donating real estate, you transfer your property’s deed to Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania through an outright gift or by having ASWP purchase the property from you at a discounted price. You would need to have a fair market appraisal done to demonstrate the property’s value to claim your charitable income tax deduction. This type of gift can be beneficial to you if managing the property has become burdensome. Also, you will not have to pay capital gains tax and you will receive an income tax deduction for your donation.
You can even transfer the title of your home to ASWP and retain the right to live there. Then, when you no longer need the property ASWP can determine if we want to use the property or sell it to support our mission. ASWP will have an ad hoc committee review any gifts of this type to ensure that we can manage any responsibilities associated with this gift.
Life insurance
If you have a life insurance policy that you do not need or that is more coverage than necessary, you can transfer the policy ownership to ASWP. The policy can be fully paid or still have premium payments due. You can receive a charitable income tax deduction for this donation and if there are still premium payments due and you continue to make a donation in the amount of the premium to ASWP then you may continue to receive income tax deductions for those donations. By contacting your insurance carrier or a professional appraiser you can determine the policy’s value. The income tax deduction you will receive will be equal to the cash surrender value of the policy. ASWP can either keep the policy active or sell it.
Alternatively, you can name ASWP as a beneficiary on your policy. This can be done through using the insurer’s change of beneficiary form. If your situation changes, you can always change this designation.
Stock
You can use appreciated stocks, bonds, and mutual funds you have held for more than one year to make a contribution to ASWP’s mission. The security certificate for your accounts can be transferred electronically into ASWP’s account. Call us at 412-963-6100 and we will send you the account information to make the transfer.
Charitable Remainder Annuity Trust
Through a charitable remainder annuity you can put cash, stock, real estate, collectibles, or business interests into a trust. The trust will then pay beneficiaries a fixed amount annually. Capital gains taxes will either be deferred or forgiven and you will receive a charitable income tax deduction for a portion of the value of the assets you transferred to the trust. Also, because these assets have been transferred to the trust they are no longer a part of your taxable estate. The trust can be funded for life or for a term of years and when the term ends the remaining funds will come to ASWP. This gift option provides tax benefits, a fixed payment to you and other named beneficiaries, and a donation to our mission.
Charitable Remainder Unitrust
This trust option differs from the charitable remainder annuity trust in that the payments the trust will make to you and other beneficiaries are not fixed; they are a fixed percentage of the principal amount, so the payments may increase over time. Also, payments can be made for the beneficiaries’ lifetimes, for a term of up to 20 years, or a combination of both. When the term for the trust ends, the remaining funds will come to ASWP.
Charitable Lead Trusts
In this trust option the fixed annual payments come to ASWP and the remainder of the trust goes to your family or others you designate when the trust term ends. The benefit of a charitable lead trust is that it allows you to reduce or completely avoid gift and estate taxes and potentially increase what you can leave to your family.
Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania is a 501c3 tax exempt nonprofit organization.
Our Employer Identification Number (EIN) is 25-1324559.
