The Community Foundation of Jackson County and our counterparts across Indiana receive a variety of gifts aimed at growing better tomorrows, building our future together and making our communities better places to grow, work and live.
While our mottos can be different and our donors surely are, one common thread is that planned gift donors can help community foundations capture part of the immense transfer of wealth expected to occur in the next 40 to 50 years.
In 2013, it was reported there was $1.74 billion in wealth in Jackson County and $1.8 billion was expected to be transferred to the next generation in the next 50 years. That’s right — $1.8 billion passing hands in Jackson County.
If every family donated just 5 percent of that wealth to the Foundation over 10 years, we would increase our assets by $27.3 million, generating an estimated $1.3 million in grant dollars — annually — forever.
Planned gifts are usually the largest gifts a community foundation will receive. We most often don’t know they’re coming until a letter from an attorney arrives indicating that the Foundation has been named a beneficiary in an estate they are working to settle.
We’ve seen three examples of that in the past year, including one that resulted in a $100,000 gift to the James Ralph Thompson Memorial Scholarship Fund, which was established in 2008. This was a bequest from Jayne Thompson Black.
More recently, we received a gift of more than $105,000 from the estate of Margaret Ann Roeger of Seymour. She died last summer at the age of 76. She named the Foundation a beneficiary in her will with instructions to create a scholarship fund. The Charles and Aileen Roeger Endowed Scholarship fund was established this summer. Charles and Aileen Dannettelle Roeger were her parents.
The fund will award its first scholarship in spring 2020. It targets adults who are continuing their interrupted education or vocational training and is renewable for a total of two years of assistance.
The Foundation can share with you material that offers help with estate planning. Several law firms in the community make use of those materials, too.
But planned gifts go beyond wills and bequests. They can also include:
Retirement plan assets, such as an IRA, a 401k or a 403b. They’re considered among the best assets to leave to charity.
Life insurance designation. They offer a low cost on the donor’s side and major gifts for the Foundation.
Charitable remainder trust.
Charitable lead trust.
Charitable gift annuity.
Just recently I received an email from a Jackson County native who is interested in naming an existing fund at the Foundation as a beneficiary of an IRA retirement plan. It’s a simple matter, and we can help walk you through that process if you’re interested. Give us a call.
As with estate planning, the Foundation has materials pertaining to those sources of gifts that can be shared with attorneys and financial planners. Again, give us a call.
Back to that 2013 report, if every family donated just 5 percent of their wealth to the Community Foundation over 10 years, we would increase our assets by $27.3 million, generating an estimated $1.3 million in grant dollars — annually — forever.
Imagine the possibilities for our community with $1.3 million in annual grants.
If you’re thinking about your future and how to make charitable contributions through planned giving, give me at the Foundation. We can help you get started and explore ways in which you can continue to make a difference in our community for years to come through your generous gifts.
Dan Davis is president and CEO of the Community Foundation of Jackson County, 107 Community Drive, Seymour, IN 47274. For information about donating to the Foundation, call 812-523-4483 or send an email to [email protected].