Is Your Zoo Reflection Your Community?

At Woodland Park Zoo, the impact of legacy gifts can be seen all over the zoo. Most legacy gifts are placed in our endowment to benefit our animals, exhibits, educational programs and field conservation programs. We also welcome discussions about specific areas of interest.

When you visit the Tropical Rain Forest, for example, you are seeing an exhibit made possible through the estate of former board member Rick Buckley.

Another gift we received was a generous bequest from Joy Spurr. Joy was a professional photographer and longtime member at Woodland Park Zoo. She traveled all over the world to exotic and sometimes dangerous places in pursuit of her photography. With these experiences, she became an author and lecturer and considered herself a lifelong learner. She is remembered as being friendly, outgoing, loving, loyal and a philanthropist.

Joy's gift has benefitted our endowment as well as exhibits. Through her generosity, and that of our many legacy donors, generations of Puget Sound children and adults will enjoy the wonder of our zoo while continuing to learn from our naturalistic exhibits and outstanding wildlife. That would give Joy great pleasure.

When you plan your estate, like most of us, you'll want to provide for family. But also remember how important strong communities are to family development, and the part that institutions like Woodland Park Zoo play in our community.

If everyone left a portion of their estate to those organizations that make our communities strong, just think what the impact would be.