Lasting Legacies. For Good. For Ever

Iowa CommunIty

FoundatIons

Lasting Legacies For Good. For Ever.

This publication was produced by the Iowa Council of Foundations (ICoF) for its Iowa Community Foundations Initiative and is sponsored in part by the Iowa Economic Development Authority. The ICoF, organized in 1998, is a nonprofit organization that plays a leadership role in promoting philanthropy and effective grantmaking in Iowa. For more information about the ICoF, please visit www.IowaCouncilofFoundations.org. To learn more about the organization’s Iowa Community Foundations Initiative, please visit www.IowaCommunityFoundations.org

Meets standards of excellence.

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today, tomorrow and always.

All across Iowa, people like you not only are serving their communities today but also are establishing a legacy of giving that will last beyond their lifetime. By partnering with local community foundations, they’re building endowments and making planned gifts to ensure the charitable causes they care about most deeply will continue to thrive—

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How You can get invoLved Your local community foundation is the place to start when you’re ready to explore estate and planned giving options that support charitable causes. Working with you closely, your foundation will help ensure that your planned gift is tailored to your situation and meets your charitable goals.

Your planned gift to the community foundation can be for any amount and through any vehicle, such as a bequest, charitable remainder trust or life insurance designation. Through your planned gift, you can establish an endowment at your community foundation to support the causes you believe in or you can choose to give to an existing fund that matches your charitable interests. Visit www.IowaCommunityFoundations.org to connect locally or contact the Iowa Council of Foundations (www.IowaCouncilofFoundations.org) for more information.

Your coMMunitY FoundationCommunity foundations are nonprofit organizations that focus on building local philanthropy by connecting people to the causes that matter most to them. Working together, foundations and community members create long-term endowments that benefit local nonprofit agencies, programs and projects in a variety of fields, such as education, health, human services, the arts and community development. Through careful management of each endowment fund, the community foundation remains focused on ensuring the contributions you make through an estate plan continue to provide important grant support to charitable organizations in perpetuity.

More than 130 community foundations and their affiliates serve every corner of Iowa, providing a trusted and valuable resource to individuals, families, businesses, professional advisors and nonprofit agencies.

Lasting Legacies For Good. For Ever.

I owans are well-known for their generosity and commitment to the communities they love. throughout the state, a growing number of iowans—from every walk of life—not only are making an impact today but also are establishing a legacy of giving that will continue to serve their communities even after their lifetime.

estate and planned gifts offer an opportunity to support your community in a way that will last forever. through such vehicles as charitable remainder trusts, bequests and life insurance, you can make a gift to your community foundation that will keep giving for generations to come.

on pages 5–16, read about some of your neighbors, colleagues, friends and family members whose estate and planned gifts are helping ensure iowa will continue to be a strong, vibrant place to live—today, tomorrow and always.

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tYpes oF pLanned giFtsUnlike cash donations, planned gifts are typically made from assets in your estate, rather than from disposable income, and come to fruition upon your death. A misconception is that these gifts are only for the wealthy. The truth is, even people of modest means can make a difference through gift planning. (The information included in this publication is for illustrative purposes only; please consult your tax, financial and/or legal advisors to determine applicability based on your individual circumstances.)

cHaritabLe bequest Including a charitable bequest in your will is a simple way to make a lasting gift to your community. Your gift can be made as a percentage of your estate, or you can make a specific bequest by giving a certain amount of cash, securities or property. After your lifetime, your local community foundation receives the bequest and establishes an endowment fund that benefits your community forever.This type of gift is simple, requiring only a few sentences in your will or trust. Also, because you’re not actually making the gift until after your lifetime, you can change your mind at any time. What’s more, if your estate is subject to estate tax, your gift is entitled to a charitable deduction for the gift’s full value.

cHaritabLe giFt annuitY A charitable gift annuity allows you to arrange a gift to your community while receiving a steady source of income throughout your lifetime. Through a simple contract, you agree to make a donation of cash, stocks or other assets to your community foundation. In return,

the foundation agrees to pay you (and someone else, if you choose) a fixed amount each year for the rest of your life. After your lifetime, the balance supports your favorite charitable causes through a fund at your local community foundation.

cHaritabLe reMainder trust With a charitable remainder trust, you can receive a partial income tax deduction and receive income each year for the rest of your life from assets you give to the trust you create. Your income can be either variable or a fixed amount and can even be given to others you name. After your lifetime, the balance in the trust goes to your community foundation to support local charitable causes.

cHaritabLe Lead trustA charitable lead trust helps you build a charitable fund with your community foundation during the trust’s term. You give assets to the trust that then pays the community foundation an income for a set number of years, which you choose. The longer the length of time, the better the estate/gift tax savings for you. When the term is up, the remaining trust assets go to your family or other beneficiaries you select. A charitable lead trust is an excellent way to transfer property to family members down the line at a minimal tax cost.

giFts oF retireMent pLan assetsLeaving a portion of your retirement plan assets to your community foundation will help you get the most value from your nest egg and protect you and your heirs from heavy taxes, as well as provide a way to support your community forever.

You can designate your local community foundation as the primary beneficiary for a percentage of your retirement plan assets. Other options include designating a specific amount to be paid to the community foundation before the remainder is divided among family beneficiaries; or making the community foundation the contingent beneficiary to receive the balance only if your loved one, as primary beneficiary, doesn’t survive you.

giFt oF LiFe insuranceWhen you own a life insurance policy with accumulated cash value, you’re essentially sitting on a pile of money. When the original purpose for the protection no longer applies—such as to educate children now grown or to provide financial security for a spouse now deceased—your life insurance can be redirected to help support a worthwhile cause. One option is simply to name your community foundation as the primary beneficiary. You also can assign the foundation ownership of the policy as a current charitable gift, which provides tax benefits.

retained LiFe estateWith a retained life estate gift, you deed a personal residence or farm to your community foundation now. You retain the right to occupy the home for life and continue to pay real estate taxes, maintenance fees and insurance on the property. In addition, you can later decide to rent your home or make improvements to it. After your lifetime—and the lifetime of your spouse or another person you choose to retain rights to live in the home—the community foundation takes possession of the property.

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YEAr 50

$66,000 In CumulATIvE grAnTs

$57,000 FunD bAlAnCE

YEAr 1

EsTAblIsh An EnDowmEnT FunD

$10,000 gIFT

YEAr 15



YEAr 25



How an endowMent worKsAn essential component of the work of community foundations is building a permanent collection of endowed funds through contributions made by many donors—individuals, families,

This illustration assumes a 4.5% granting policy and 8.5% rate of return.

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endow iowa tax creditDuring your lifetime, you could benefit from the Endow Iowa Tax Credit by establishing or contributing to a permanently endowed fund at your local community foundation. You could then contribute to the fund later through a planned gift to ensure your legacy continues forever. The Iowa Legislature created the program, and since 2004 it has provided an incentive to establish and grow endowment funds for Iowa charitable causes at qualified community foundations. You can apply (on a first-come, first-served basis) for a possible 25 percent State of Iowa tax credit. Contact your local community foundation to determine if it is qualified to participate in the program and to learn more.

tYpes oF endowMentsThere are five major types of endowment funds that can be established, or contributed to, through your planned gift:

unrestricted Fund: This type of fund allows your planned gift to support a broad range of local needs and enables the community foundation to respond to the community’s most pressing demands now and in the future, including those not anticipated during your lifetime.

Field of interest Fund: With this type of fund, you choose a particular area or areas you want to support, such as education, health or community development, through your planned gift. The community foundation’s board then awards grants to organizations or programs that serve that purpose.

designated Fund: This type of fund enables you to choose a specific nonprofit organization or organizations, such as a museum, youth center or church, that your planned gift will support.

donor advised Fund: During your lifetime, this fund allows you to be actively involved in suggesting which programs, projects or organizations receive grants. Grant awards are issued to charities in the name of the fund (or anonymously if you prefer). After your lifetime, this type of fund also presents an opportunity to share the spirit of philanthropy by engaging future generations in making grant recommendations.

agency endowment: This type of fund is established by nonprofit organizations at their local community foundation. It’s a simple and efficient way to help create sustainability for the organization by building an endowment that supports the nonprofit’s mission in perpetuity.

organizations and businesses—for a variety of charitable causes. When you make a contribution to an endowment fund through your estate or planned gift, that gift is carefully invested for maximum return and growth, ensuring that the endowment will exist in perpetuity. The growth of endowment funds and the income earned help to

provide financial support necessary to help carry out your charitable objectives. Endowed funds held at local community foundations typically have a granting policy in the range of 5%. This means that over time, more grant dollars are available to the community and the endowment fund itself continues to grow.

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Coppock

Patti and Loren CoPPoCk

greater Cedar raPids Community Foundation

I went looking for a place we could accomplish all our goals in one swoop.”

closely and became contributors ourselves.” So in 2008, when the Coppocks sold an appreciated business interest and moved to their next stage of giving, they knew establishing a donor advised endowment at the Community Foundation would be the right fit. The Endow Iowa Tax Credit offered a powerful incentive, Loren says, enabling them to “leverage the accumulation of a lifetime of work in a tax-efficient way.” The endowment also “allows us to make annual distributions to wherever the greatest need is at the time,” he says, and will continue to serve that purpose in perpetuity.

The Community Foundation also figures into the Coppocks’ estate plans. Philanthropy “is a lifetime journey, and if something happens to my wife and me, (the Community Foundation) is the beneficiary of my retirement plan,” Loren says.

“I’m what you call a raving fan of community foundations,” he adds. “I think they’re just short of the greatest thing since sliced bread.” n

t’s been a journey, if you will.” That’s how Loren Coppock describes how the Greater Cedar Rapids Community Foundation has helped him and his wife, Patti, reach their charitable goals over the past 20 years.

That journey started in 1992, “when my wife and I were talking about what we wanted to do charitably,” says Loren, a principal at TrueNorth Insurance and Financial Strategies in Cedar Rapids. “There were a number of charities we wanted to support.” At the time, they didn’t know about the Community Foundation, and “I went looking for a place we could accomplish all our goals in one swoop,” he says. The search ended when he was introduced to a Community Foundation board member, and “I found they had exactly what I wanted.”

The Coppocks started their first fund at the Community Foundation in 1992. Over the years, “we engaged the Community Foundation in a number of different ways,” Loren says. “We got to know (the organization) more

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‘‘Hurd

david Hurd

Community Foundation oF greater des moines

I would like to see more local leaders decide to commit a significant portion of their assets toward enhancing the quality of life in Greater Des Moines.”

Through the Community Foundation, David plans to leave 70 percent of his assets to 14 charities that “I have a strong belief in,” he says. The remaining 30 percent will go to unrestricted funds; the Community Foundation will use money from these funds to respond to Greater Des Moines’ most pressing needs and demands.

David also appreciates the flexibility the Community Foundation offers. For example, the percentage allocations and the charities chosen to receive those allocations could change, he notes. “If one of the charities would disappear from the scene, the (distribution) can be reconfigured,” he says. “The Community Foundation is a flexible and skilled organization, and I feel very comfortable using them.”

He hopes his planned gift also sets an example for others. “I would like to see more local leaders decide to commit a significant portion of their assets toward enhancing the quality of life in Greater Des Moines,” he says. n

n 2005, David Hurd, a longtime Des Moines business and community leader, established a donor advised fund at the Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines. His positive experience working with the Community Foundation prompted him to make a planned gift through the organization.

“The key element is that I’m assuming there’s going to be assets when I die,” says David, a former chairman and CEO of Principal Financial Group. “I wanted to have a plan to deal with those assets so that the money would be well used and well managed after I die.”

David is confident that goal will be met because of the strong administrative and financial management skills the Community Foundation’s staff and board members possess. “The board of directors are pillars of the community,” he says. “They have good judgment, and to have them steer the usage of my bequest is a way of making sure the money is well used.”

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Lundy

Curtis Lundy

Community Foundation oF tHe great river Bend

The endowment “was very simple for me to set up, and I am confident that the Community Foundation will handle it well.”

with” and had the expertise to manage and administer the fund effectively.

His experience led him to establish a designated endowment at the Community Foundation that will be the beneficiary of his trust once he dies. The endowment “was very simple for me to set up, and I am confident that the Community Foundation will handle it well,” he says.

The endowment will continue to support Living Lands & Waters, the Nahant Marsh Education Center in Davenport and two other nonprofit organizations. If, for some reason, one of the organizations would go out of existence, “then the Community Foundation would be able to exercise its judgment in allocating the gift to a similarly commissioned group—without skipping a beat,” he says. “I know everything will be done right.” n

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ifteen years ago, a life insurance agent told Curtis Lundy of Bettendorf that he’d most likely have money in his estate when he died and should consider setting up an endowment at a community foundation as a beneficiary of his trust.

At the time, “I thought it was a goofy idea,” says Lundy, a retired bank chief financial officer. “I thought, ‘Who do they think I am? A Rockefeller?’”

But as the years passed, “I realized I would have extra money and that I wanted certain organizations to have an ongoing source of funding,” says Lundy, whose passion is protecting and improving the environment. Four years ago, he helped one of the nonprofit organizations he’s involved with, Living Land & Waters, establish an endowment at the Community Foundation of the Great River Bend. He found the Community Foundation “was a good group to do business

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‘‘Maxwell

Jvone maxweLL

Community Foundation oF nortHeast iowa

The Community Foundation’s ability to serve a donor’s wishes in perpetuity made a strong impression on her.”

Community Foundation’s ability to serve a donor’s wishes in perpetuity made a strong impression on her.”

Jvone established a designated endowment, the James W. and Jvone E. Maxwell Memorial Scholarship Fund, to grant scholarships to eligible students in Northeast Iowa who are pursuing a college education. “She was glad to discover that including a named fund within the Community Foundation could enable her to honor her husband’s wishes while also embracing her own,” David says. The Community Foundation then became the beneficiary of a charitable trust Jvone established.

“Working closely with her investment, tax and legal advisers,” David says, “she arrived at a solution benefiting all of the causes that mattered to both (James) and her in a way that would keep the two of them together in the memories of the community and the causes they held so dear.” n

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ames and Jvone Maxwell of Cedar Falls “deeply loved each other; (it was) a romance of high art,” David Sparks, president of Heartwood Investments, recalls Jvone telling him. Jvone often talked about James’ talents as an architect, while Jvone was “a gifted musician, a force-five hurricane of a piano teacher at the University of Northern Iowa,” David says.

The Maxwell home was always open to students for gatherings. Jvone and James both enjoyed mentoring young people and also assisted students with serious financial need.

Their concern for others extended to their community, and after James died in 1986, Jvone “went on actively volunteering,” David says.

Through her volunteer work, Jvone, who died in 2005, learned about the Community Foundation of Northeast Iowa. “She devoted considerable care to understanding how a Community Foundation can work constructively with both distant and local organizations,” David says. “The

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Ricker

BruCe and miCHeLL riCker and FamiLy

soutH CentraL iowa Community Foundation

We’ve seen the power of endowments and the lasting change they can make.”

build now—but it’s going to be something good!”

The power of endowment also motivated the Rickers to bequeath part of their estate to three funds held at the South Central Iowa Community Foundation. Specifically, 25 percent of their estate will go to the Bruce and Michell Ricker Endowment, 10 percent to the Ringgold County Hospital Endowment and 5 percent to the Parent Support and Education Endowment Fund.

The bequest will help ensure the charitable causes and interests the Rickers believe in will be supported in perpetuity, they say. What’s more, they’re confident the Community Foundation will continue to be good stewards of their investment and prudently manage the funds.

Overall, including the Community Foundation endowments in their estate plan fits with their giving philosophy, which they sum up by quoting the famous 18th-century theologian John Wesley: “Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, for all the people you can, as long as ever you can.” n

D r. Bruce and Michell Ricker have experienced first-hand how endowments help transform a community. Since moving back to Mt. Ayr, their hometown, in 1996, “we’ve seen the power of endowments and the lasting change they can make,” Michell says.

For example, the Margaret Ricker Memorial Fund has helped more than 4,800 children learn to read over the past 12 years. The Rickers established the endowment, which funds an at-home reading program for every child in Ringgold County in grades K-6, at the South Central Iowa Community Foundation. The fund is in honor of Bruce’s grandmother, who was a teacher. “She instilled in us the importance of reading,” Bruce says.

The success of this fund and of endowments that support the town’s historic Princess Theater and the Ringgold County Teen Center “inspired us to start an endowment in our name,” at the Community Foundation, Michell says. “We haven’t designated it yet—we’re letting it

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Schumacher

HeLen and marvin sCHumaCHer

Bremer County Community Foundation

An affiliate of the Community Foundation

of Northeast Iowa

The Schumachers are gratified knowing their planned gift “will continue to give forever.”

County,” says Helen, who is a lifelong resident of the county as is Marvin. “As the fund grows, it’s nice to make bigger grants and see the projects happen.” So far, grants from the endowment have supported Bremer County projects including a nursing home, library, community hospital and historical society, among other organizations.

“We also use the fund as a way to involve our family in philanthropy,” Helen adds. One of their sons, Jeff, his wife, Karen, and three of their grandchildren live in Denver, and “we look over the nonprofit information and make charitable decisions together,” she says.

The desire to support the needs of the community in perpetuity led the Schumachers to name the Bremer County Community Foundation as a beneficiary of their individual retirement accounts once they die. “The Community Foundation makes it so easy” to make a planned gift, Helen says. “They have great information and answer all your questions.” The Schumachers are gratified knowing the gift “will continue to give forever.” n

I n the past, Helen and Marvin Schumacher, who live in Denver in northeastern Iowa, didn’t give much thought to how or why they gave. “We contributed to organizations but didn’t have a planned approach,” Helen says.

That changed once the Bremer County Community Foundation was established and they served on the governing committee. “Each year, we reviewed 60 or more grant applications and learned a lot about the needs in Bremer County (as well as) about organizations we didn’t even know existed,” Helen says. “It really opened our eyes.”

They not only learned about the county’s most pressing needs but also the value of giving through the Community Foundation, prompting them to establish a donor advised endowment, called the Schumacher Family Fund, in 2005. The Endow Iowa Tax Credit, which the Community Foundation helped the Schumachers apply for, provided an additional incentive.

“The intent (of the fund) is to support nonprofits and projects in Bremer

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Scott

PauL and June sCott

sHeLBy County Community Foundation

An affiliate of the Community Foundations of

Southwest Iowa/Omaha Community Foundation

gift had been administered,” says Robert Hall, an attorney with Hall & Hudson in Harlan, who handled June’s estate.

He notes that the school district isn’t set up to handle the administration of endowments and that June “felt comfortable” knowing her bequest would go to a fund managed through the Community Foundation. The bequest has enabled the number of annual scholarships awarded to grow from four to nine.

June and Paul both were born and raised in Shelby County and lived on a farm until retiring, at which time they moved to Harlan. “They cared about and were always very involved in the community,” Rowland says.

“She had a passion for her community and the people in it,” Robert adds. “With her bequests, she was making sure the organizations she cared about were being taken care of well into the 21st century.” n

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J une Scott of Harlan and her husband, Paul, didn’t have any children of their own, but they had 11 nieces and nephews “they treated like their own,” recalls Rowland Burton, executor of June’s estate. June’s fondness for children didn’t stop with her family, though; before moving on to other endeavors, she taught for a short time in country schools in Shelby County in western Iowa, where she and Paul (who died in 1999) lived.

Her desire to help kids succeed prompted her to start a scholarship endowment in 2007 at the Shelby County Community Foundation for students in the Harlan Community School District who are planning to attend college.

Pleased with how the endowment was being managed, June, who died in 2010, made the fund one of the beneficiaries of her will. “She already had (a relationship) with the Community Foundation staff and liked the way that (the endowment)

‘‘With her bequests, she was making sure the organizations she cared about were being taken care of well into the 21st century.”

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Smith

wrede and BarBara smitH

siouxLand Community Foundation

vehicle for the estate gift. “I’ve been a personal supporter of the Community Foundation, and I trust them with my money,” Garrett says. “It’s a solid Siouxland establishment.” Wrede Smith, in fact, was a founding member of the Siouxland Community Foundation.

The Smith siblings are passing on their parents’ philosophy of giving to the next generation. Wrede and Barbara Smith’s 10 grandchildren each received a portion of the estate, held in the non-endowed fund at the Community Foundation, to use to support a charitable group or endeavor. “They’re each deciding where they want their portion to go, so they’re thinking about what was important to (their grandparents) as well as what’s important to them,” Garrett says.

Garrett and his siblings hope this type of philanthropic decision-making will show their children the value and rewards of supporting the community in perpetuity. “Hopefully, when I’m gone and my brother and sisters are gone, the legacy will continue,” Garrett says. n

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‘‘Through supporting local organizations that serve the needs of the community, the endowment will honor our parents’ name for generations.”

or the Smith family, giving is a tradition. So after longtime community leaders Wrede and Barbara Smith died, there was no question that their four children would use part of the proceeds from their estate to give back to the Sioux City area, home to the family for more than four generations.

To carry on their parents’ philanthropy, the children decided to establish a donor advised endowment, the Wrede and Barbara Smith Legacy Fund, as well as a non-endowed fund, at the Siouxland Community Foundation. “Our parents were both very active in serving the community,” says Garrett Smith, one of the couple’s sons and president of Jolly Time Pop Corn, a fourth-generation family-owned business that Wrede Smith led for nearly four decades. “Our intent is to help Siouxland in perpetuity. Through supporting local organizations that serve the needs of the community, the endowment will honor our parents’ name for generations.”

The Smith family considered creating a private foundation but decided the Community Foundation was the best

CLoCkwise From uPPer LeFt:

Jeanne tourteLLot, roBerta roHLena, garrett

smitH and wrede smitH, Jr.

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Stark

maurie and mary stark

Fort dodge Community Foundation

and united way

The Starks were “extremely selfless and philanthropic but never wanted attention drawn their way. They led by example.”

Maurie helped set up foundations that benefit the school system.

With a desire to make sure their estate would continue to support the community they loved in perpetuity, the Starks made a bequest to an unrestricted endowment held at the Fort Dodge Community Foundation and United Way. Grants from the fund will help support programs and projects that will advance the community’s quality of life and common good.

The Starks left a major portion of their estate to the community and the balance to their children. “My siblings and I hope their example will inspire others to be more charitable themselves,” Tom says.

“My mother once told my wife Cindy that, because they had lived so frugally, they were able to donate more to charity,” he adds. “I feel that our parents instilled in us a great appreciation for giving back. They have left enormous shoes to fill.” n

A lthough Maurie and Mary Stark of Fort Dodge strongly believed in giving back to their church, profession and community, they steered clear of the limelight. “They were both extremely selfless and philanthropic but never wanted attention drawn their way,” says their son, Dr. Tom Stark of Ames. “They led by example.”

Maurie, who died in 2000, and Mary, who died in 2011, lived according to the principle of “to whom much has been given, much will be expected,” Tom says, but in a quiet, modest way. “They truly lived those words and instilled in each of us (children) the desire to give of our time, talent and treasure.”

Maurie, a respected tax attorney, was a longtime Rotary member and a strong supporter of United Way. He also helped guide the merger of two hospitals in Fort Dodge. Both Maurie and Mary were passionate about advancing Catholic education, and

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‘‘Sterk

ginger and gLenn sterk

greater PowesHiek Community Foundation

Our son would’ve been passionate about helping these kids, and we thought that he’d be proud to be memorialized in this way.”

Foundation not only because staff members were “helpful and compassionate,” Ginger says, but also because of their expertise in administering and managing the fund. The Endow Iowa Tax Credit provided an additional incentive, the Sterks say.

The Sterks have been so pleased with their experience with the Community Foundation that they’ve decided to name the organization as a beneficiary in their will. At this point, they plan for the gift to go to an unrestricted endowment. “We don’t want to put too many strings on it because you never know how things are going to change,” Ginger says. “We want the Community Foundation to be able to make the decision based on what the community’s needs are.”

Whatever the gift would eventually help support, the Sterks say they believe it not only will serve the community in perpetuity but also honor their son’s legacy forever. n

n endowment Ginger and Glenn Sterk established at the Greater Poweshiek Community Foundation not only will serve local children for generations to come, but also pays tribute to their son, psychiatrist Dr. Kevin Sterk, who died unexpectedly in 2010.

The Dr. Kevin W. Sterk Elementary Student Needs Endowment Fund supports the purchase of food, coats, boots, hats and other items that are then distributed to Grinnell lower elementary school children. The idea for the endowment stemmed from a talk that an elementary school principal gave at the Sterks’ church, Glenn recalls. “She said the needs of children are getting greater and greater,” with a growing number of students lacking even basic necessities.

“Our son would’ve been passionate about helping these kids, and we thought that he’d be proud to be memorialized in this way,” Ginger says.

The Sterks decided to establish the endowment at the Community

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dr. kevin sterk

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‘‘Walker

CHarLes and donna waLker

CLear Lake/ventura area Community

Foundation

An affiliate of the Community Foundation of

Northeast Iowa

The idea is to help make for a better life for the residents of Clear Lake.”

1990. He and his wife, Donna (who died in 2012), “were over-weighted in certain equities, which represented a disproportionate amount of our net worth. We were looking for a way to diversify our investments,” he says.

Charles decided to transfer appreciated assets into an irrevocable charitable remainder unitrust (CRUT), with the Community Foundation named as the beneficiary. The CRUT protected him from a capital gains tax and also provides for an annual income. Whatever remains in the trust after his death will go to an unrestricted endowment, which will serve the needs of the Clear Lake community in perpetuity.

“The idea is to help make for a better life for the residents of Clear Lake,” he says. “The Community Foundation is a good vehicle to make that happen.” n

W hen it came time for Charles Walker of Clear Lake to plan his estate, he thought of the example his father, Lowell Walker, had set when the family lived in Waterloo. Lowell believed in giving back to his community and in the power of endowment, and put those convictions into action as one of the incorporators of the Community Foundation of Northeast Iowa. “My father also had made several gifts to the Foundation, so I had considerable familiarity with it,” Charles says.

As Charles considered his own estate options, he was glad to learn about the Clear Lake/Ventura Area Community Foundation. “I felt like it was a good fit for us,” he says.

Working with the Community Foundation has been “part of an estate planning procedure,” explains Charles, who has lived in Clear Lake since

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H

‘‘Webster

neiL and eLizaBetH weBster

Community Foundation oF greater duBuque

It’s really quite a relief to know it will go on forever.”

to worry about it,” Neil says, “and I knew it would last forever.”

Renamed the Clayton Ridge Fine Arts Endowment, the fund is now open to students in all fine arts fields, including both visual and performing arts. Students receive the scholarship during their second semester of college. Neil hopes the fund will grow through donations from former scholarship recipients, who number 40 so far. “We hope to start to increase the size of the fund,” he says, which would enable it to serve a greater number of students in the future. In addition, he would like to see the minimum amount of each grant awarded to be at least $1,000.

Neil also has named the endowment as a beneficiary of his will. He says it’s “very gratifying” to know that the gift will help fine arts students for generations to come as well as pay tribute to his beloved late wife in perpetuity. “It’s really quite a relief to know it will go on forever,” he says. n

igh school sweethearts Neil and Elizabeth Webster married during World War II, then settled in Guttenberg in northeastern Iowa, where Elizabeth played the organ and directed the choir at her church for more than 50 years. Passionate about sharing her love of music, she started a scholarship fund in 1987 to help students who planned to study music in college.

“She wanted them to experience the joy of music as she did,” Neil recalls. “She wanted to help give them a chance to succeed.”

After Elizabeth died in 1999, Neil honored her legacy by continuing the fund. But disappointment in how the fund was being managed led him to move it to the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque two years ago. He was impressed with the Community Foundation’s investment expertise and their experience in managing and handling endowments. With the fund at the Community Foundation, “I knew I wouldn’t have

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www.IowaCommunityFoundations.org

Contact your local community foundation or visit www.IowaCommunityFoundations.org

IOWA COMMUNITY FOUNDATIONS IS AN INITIATIVE OF THE IOWA COUNCIL OF FOUNDATIONS

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Lasting Legacies. For Good. For Ever