Get extra lift from AOPA. Start your free membership trial today! Click here
News & Media AOPA Foundation

Why I give

Donors to AOPA Foundation Legacy Society speak out

September 5, 2023
“Why do I give to AOPA?"
John Springthorpe III, a 4,000-hour Citation pilot, is a member of the AOPA Foundation Legacy Society and President’s Council.
Zoomed image
John Springthorpe III, a 4,000-hour Citation pilot, is a member of the AOPA Foundation Legacy Society and President’s Council.

How to give

AOPA relies on philanthropic contributions to fund two of our flagship programs, You Can Fly and the AOPA Air Safety Institute. Through these programs, your gifts are ensuring that we have more pilots and safer pilots—both are needed to carry on our freedom to fly.

Including the AOPA Foundation in your estate plans can be a simple way to make an even more significant impact and share your love of general aviation with future aviators. Including a gift to the AOPA Foundation in your will or trust or making the AOPA Foundation a beneficiary of your retirement account or life insurance policy can be a simple way to have a significant impact.

Your legacy gift will get and keep more pilots flying, help them fly more safely, and help make it possible for all those who dream of flying to achieve their goal.

If you have not yet set up a will, FreeWill offers a will-writing resource at no cost to friends of the AOPA Foundation. It is cost-free to create your plans, can be used in tandem with an attorney, and makes it simple to include the necessary language to support the AOPA Foundation with a legacy gift.

foundation.aopa.org/ways-to-give/legacy-giving

"My father is a pilot. He is 90 years old now, but my first memories of flying are with him in a Piper Colt launching from a cow pasture that someone had turned into a runway. I remember he and my mother attending an AOPA convention in the mid-1960s. When I started flying, he told me I should support AOPA because they looked out for the private pilots. Four thousand hours and a dozen airplanes later, I continue to be impressed with the work done by Mark Baker and the staff at AOPA. The ‘You Can Fly’ initiatives, the success of BasicMed, and the latest push for pricing transparency all deserve the support from every pilot and I am proud to lend a hand.”

The legacy challenge

An anonymous donor who is fully committed to securing the future of general aviation through legacy giving has pledged $1 million for an AOPA Foundation legacy challenge to encourage other AOPA members to include and document their future gift. When you include a legacy gift to the AOPA Foundation in your estate plans, you are providing future financial support. Now, just by documenting your legacy gift with us, 10 percent of the value of your legacy gift, up to $20,000, is immediately activated from the legacy challenge funds—and made available to essential programs funded by the AOPA Foundation. If you choose to leave the amount of your gift undisclosed, $1,000 in legacy challenge funds will be activated. Please contact the AOPA Foundation at 301-695-2320 or [email protected] if you have any questions.

DID YOU KNOW?
498: The number of members of the AOPA Foundation Legacy Society (join us and help make it 500!). 


Related Articles