Ziggy was cold, hungry, and alone and might not have survived the winter if PETA hadn’t intervened and found her a “forever home.”

Ziggy, pictured here, is just one of millions of animals who have been rescued through PETA’s fieldwork, but as you know, many more are still in need.

Including PETA in your year-end philanthropy can help animals like Ziggy and give you a rewarding “return on investment.” Here’s how:

Your donation to PETA before the clock strikes midnight on December 31 will not only provide animals with critical support but also allow you to take a U.S. charitable deduction next April. And if your employer offers a matching-gift program, you may be able to double or even triple the impact of your gift. Please ask your employer whether it has a matching-gift program. You can also visit PETA.org/MatchingGifts to see whether your employer participates.

It’s that time of year when many employers, including federal and state governments, are running workplace giving campaigns. If you’re eligible to participate in a workplace campaign, please consider designating a gift to help animals through PETA. If PETA is not an option, please talk with the campaign manager to see how you can designate PETA to receive your gift.

If you have stock or real estate that has appreciated and that you’ve held for more than one year, a donation to PETA may qualify you for a charitable deduction for the full fair-market value of your gift and save on capital-gains taxes. Even depreciated stock can benefit both animals and you.

If you have a vehicle (including cars and boats), running or not, that you no longer need, you can donate it to PETA from virtually anywhere in the U.S. and make a difference for animals. Visit PETA.org/Car or call 1-877-PETA-GIV.

If giving a gift to a loved one is in your immediate future, consider giving a compassionate gift that gives twice! Browse through the “virtual gifts” at PETAPresents.org to find a gift that will help animals, and we’ll send a fun, personalized e-card to your loved one.

This is also a good time of year to review your long-term and estate-planning documents, including wills, trusts, beneficiary designations, powers of attorney, and end-of-life directives, such as living wills. You should do this at least annually to ensure that your plans as stated are in line with your current goals.

In addition to loved ones, you can provide for animals through gifts to PETA in these documents. For example, you can make PETA a beneficiary of your retirement plan and avoid unwanted taxation, leverage modest annual premiums into a significant gift by making PETA a beneficiary of a life insurance policy, name PETA as the beneficiary of a specific or residual gift in your will or trust, or make PETA a beneficiary of a financial account, including checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, stocks, and bonds.

Your support means the world to PETA, and we thank you for all that you’re doing for animals. If you’d like more information on year-end gifts, please contact us at 757-962-8213 or [email protected].