Donate

As a nonprofit, we rely on your donations.

Your contributions help us to promote bird conservation in the area, educate others about birds, and more.

The South Bend-Elkhart Audubon Society is a registered 503(c) nonprofit and all donations are tax deductible.

Leaving a Legacy

By drafting a living will or trust, you will insure that your assets pass to the people you care about as intended. To make sure your will accomplishes your goals and wishes, I recommend you seek legal counsel, but here is an example of the language to use:

“I bequeath to the South Bend-Elkhart Audubon Society, with the mailing address of PO Box 581, Mishawaka, IN 46546 [a specific sum of $________, all or ______ percent, 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 its mission in the state of Indiana or for a specific program: _____].”

Note that you can give a specific amount or a percentage of the remainder of your estate. You may specify a certain use, such as a sanctuary upkeep, or you may leave it up to the board's discretion.

By default, all unspecified funds will be placed in the Woolman-Groet-Miller Endowment Fund. This fund, established in 1979, initially with funds and bequests from John and Myrtle Groet, John and Nell Woolman, and Marguerite and Harold Miller, all long-standing members of the society who believed in the goals and of the society and wanted to see them fulfilled and extended. The main purpose of the endowment fund (often shortened to the WGM Fund) is to support and promote environmental education and conservation projects. Since its conception, the fund has awarded more than $300,000 in support of a wide variety of projects. Many of the projects are distributed in our membership area, where we are most keenly aware of both problems and opportunities, but we have also funded projects further afield.

For more information about the WGM fund, including recent projects funded, please visit our Grant Opportunities page. If you know of any organizations, schools, etc., that align with our mission and are in need of funds for a project, the application is available on that site as well. We now have an online application that streamlines the process.