Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

estate planning

Compassionate Conversations of Care: Protecting all you cherish

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The conversations we have with those around us help care for the people and causes we love—just like we care for the chimpanzees at the sanctuary. Whether it’s Jamie, with her many interests and endless curiosity, or Cy, who loves magazines and sitting quietly with his caregivers—our goal is to provide those in our care with a safe, nurturing home that honors their individuality and helps ease them into different stages of life.

October 21-27 is National Estate Planning Awareness Week, and we encourage you to have compassionate conversations of care with your loved ones.

As I’ve gotten older and lost many relatives and friends, I know that that these discussions might feel overwhelming, but it’s a crucial step in ensuring your wishes are known and honored. To help, we’ve gathered a checklist of questions to talk through with the people close to your heart:

  • Guardianship: Who would be the designated guardian for any minor children or pets?
  • Financial Management: Who would we want to help manage our finances? Who would be our financial power of attorney?
  • Health Decisions: Does our medical power of attorney know our health concerns?
  • Readiness: Are the chosen family members or friends aware of these roles and willing to take them on the responsibility?
  • Legacy: What causes do we want to support long into the future?

Our partner, FreeWill, provides free, intuitive tools to help you create a will and other estate planning documents. You can also plan your beneficiaries for non-probate assets like an IRA or 401(k).

By including a gift of any size to CSNW in your will or designating us as a beneficiary of one or more non-probate assets, you can build a legacy that gives a second chance to deserving chimpanzees for years to come. Past legacy gifts have enabled the chimpanzees to thrive in their sanctuary home and have helped us work towards big goals for the sanctuary.

Start these conversations today, and craft a plan that cares for all that matters to you. 

If you have included us in your will, please fill out this brief form so we can recognize your generosity!

strolling through the years

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I had so many thoughts going through my head when I was taking the walk in the video above.

I believe that the true beauty in this world is in these small, transitory moments and recognizing how quickly time passes. I feel it with the seasons too. I see the leaves changing, their colors taking my breath away, understating that a big part of the spectacular beauty is knowing that their display will soon be gone, and the next season, the next year, the next decade, will arrive before I even have time to process that one moment in time.

It’s cliche, but life is brief. We are so fortunate to have this outlet of the blog to capture and share the small moments and invite you to take a minute to appreciate them with us.

If you subscribe to our e-newsletter, you should have received an email this week that included information about National Estate Planning Awareness Week. This week is all about acknowledging the briefness of life and preparing for the future.

We are so grateful to be able to honor supporters and supporters’ loved ones in various ways at the sanctuary, including receiving some legacy gifts that have helped care for the chimpanzees. As I said in that email, whether or not you include Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest in your estate planning, I do hope you will take advantage of the free tools we offer to create your will and set up your estate in whatever way you desire.

Take a moment to do something really important–you won’t regret it.

Back to those precious fleeting moments, I give you Gordo in a box: