TELL US YOUR STORY:
Different people. Different goals. One community.
There is no one reason to give and no single way to do it. At the Kitsap Community Foundation (KCF), we understand this perfectly. And we structure what we do accordingly. That's why so many different types of people, from all parts of the county and all walks of life, trust us to reach their charitable goals. What motivated them? Take a look at their stories to find out...
Our Donor Stories
The Clarke Family
Foundation
Last year, former Kitsap Community Foundation Board member Sam Clarke spoke to us about the Clarke Family Foundation, a fund managed through Kitsap Community Foundation.
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The Clarke family wants a program that the entire family can take part in, and give in perpetuity. The Clarke family has long been charitably inclined and is well aware of the pitfalls of charitable giving. They looked to the Kitsap Community Foundation to help them avoid those pitfalls while achieving the family's goal of creating a charitable legacy.
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As Sam said, "There are marked differences between the efficient use of donated funds among charitable institutions. Also, there are marked differences between such institutions on the effectiveness of their programs. That is, most of the donated funds may go into their program, but the program may have minimal effect in solving the problem they are addressing. There are 1.4 million non-profits in the U.S. but perhaps about 100,000 that are truly efficient and effective. Most of the others have good intention, but may suffer from poor management, or mistaken ideas about the value of what they are doing.
It's difficult for the average giver to make these distinctions and have access to valid information. The Kitsap Community Foundation has the skill and access to information to help."
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We are grateful for the trust the Clarke family has placed in us and for their desire to help Kitsap.
We can help you set up a Family Foundation as part of your family's legacy too. Just give us a call.
Funding Philanthropy
Through
Life Insurance
Peter and Marty Braun have a passion for their five children and a passion for improving the community through philanthropy. They brought those two passions together by creating the Braun Family Foundation. And they’re doing it in a unique and tax-efficient manner.
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Kitsap Community Foundation has taken out a $1,000,000 whole life insurance policy on the Brauns. The proceeds of that life insurance policy will go into the Braun Family Foundation, a donor advised fund administered by the Kitsap Community Foundation.
While the Brauns are living, they will donate money to the Community Foundation each year in an amount equal to the amount the Community Foundation pays for the annual premium on the life insurance. The Braun’s will receive an annual tax deduction for that annual donation and when they pass away, their children will hold the reigns to a Family Foundation with at least $1,000,000 in assets.
During their lives, the Brauns will work with their children to teach them about philanthropy and helping their community. And the Brauns might put some assets into their Family Foundation while they’re alive, money that they and their children can jointly use to make grants to nonprofits.
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Now that is smart philanthropy! It is also smart family management.
Funding Philanthropy Through Real Estate
We work with a Kingston couple who are retired but who want to continue giving substantially to charity every year that they're alive. Basically, they have a charitable giving budget that they want to maintain for the rest of their lives. Sound familiar to you?
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The question for them was: What's the most tax-efficient way to maintain this giving budget? The solution that the Foundation facilitated for them is remarkable. This couple owns a condo valued at $540,000 that is fully paid off. This means they have a zero basis in the condo, which in turn means, if they sell the condo, they will owe tax on the entire sale price. They decided to give the condo to their charitable fund at Kitsap Community Foundation.
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This is a trifecta of giving for them: They get a tax deduction for $540,000; they avoid tax on $540,000 (or whatever the condo sells for), and they don't have to be bothered with selling the condo. We are selling the condo for them. All of the sale proceeds will go into their charitable fund. They can then use that fund to fulfill their annual charitable budget for years and years to come.
Ann & Ted Striebel Fund
Dot Lintz honors her parents...
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"My parent's values included the importance of saving for the future. As a result, on their modest income, they funded their children's college education — the love of education being another of their values, and left us each an inheritance. I decided to honor my parents by using some of that inheritance to establish an endowment in their name at the Kitsap Community Foundation. This endowment continues their financial support of the organizations that were important to them — primarily the public library in their Montana home town. This experience as a donor/investor at KCF, and as a Board member, has led Ralph and me to take the next step and establish a charitable remainder unitrust which will be invested at KCF to benefit several Kitsap organizations."
Charles and Dorothy Martell Family Scholarship Fund
Their parents' passion for music lives on...
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The children of Charles and Dorothy Martell established this scholarship fund in honor of their parents. According to daughter Jane Chapin, "not only were my parents active community volunteers and avid supporters of the arts, but they gave unconditionally of their time and talent to help young musicians succeed. The scholarship is intended to help a graduating high school student wishing to continue with a career in music or music education beyond high school. "They were always helping someone."
Montgomery Fund
How one couple's gifts will keep on giving...
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"We have lived in Kitsap County for over forty years (in fact in the same house). We spent our lives donating to our favorite local charities, then we realized that donations would cease on our death. We talked to our financial advisor Brant Green, about how to continue the donations. He asked us if we had heard of KCF and setting up an endowment fund to pay the earnings out to the different charities. This was just what we wanted, Brant set up a meeting with the KCF lawyer to draw up the endowment fund where we could add more money to the Fund at our convenience.
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We were asked sometime later by Brant (a KCF Board member) if one or both of us would serve on the KCF Grants committee, which we both accepted. That was a real eye opener for us, having both volunteered for Habitat, our church, and the local food bank; we thought we knew the needs of our community. After going through some 60 grant requests on everything from food banks to homeless shelters to foster children to mental health all up and down the list, trying to pick out or prioritize the few grants we could fund was very hard.
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We served on the KCF Grants committee for several years, each year having so many grant requests that had to be turned down due to lack of funds available. We then decided to set up another endowment fund in our son's memory (The Brian Montgomery Fund), an unrestricted fund which the KCF board members could direct the funds where they were best needed."