We’d like to welcome this latest group of new funds established since mid-June. Watch the website during the coming year for future acknowledgements of our growth in planned-giving and capacity-building funds.

Beshore Family Foundation – Lance and Sharon Beshore of Carthage established this family and community fund with the Community Foundation of Southwest Missouri to assist them with their charitable giving.

John & Betty Brecht Endowment Fund for United Methodist Church in Clinton – Betty Brecht established this designated endowment fund to benefit the United Methodist Church in honor and memory of her late husband, John. Mrs. Brecht also established the John & Betty Brecht Endowment Fund for Clinton Arts Council in honor and memory of John. These are component funds of the Truman Lake Community Foundation.

Community Support Services of Missouri Fund and Community Support Services of Missouri Endowment Fund – These funds were established by Community Support Services in Joplin to help fund the organization’s work with children and adults with developmental disabilities. These also were established with the Community Foundation of Southwest Missouri. We also want to welcome Community Support Services as a new agency partner in the social services category.

Billy Coyle Leadership Fund – Bill Coyle established this designated endowment fund to provide a student leadership award to the Conway School District. The student must demonstrate traits and qualities of a leader or have been involved in laboratory opportunities for leadership. Preference will be given to students pursuing higher education as a science teacher, then in the science field and then in law enforcement.

Dallas County Pet Outreach Program Fund – This capacity-building fund will provide for the needs of animals in the Dallas County area, such as spay/neuter services, animal medical bills, and improved living conditions. A component of the Dallas County Community Foundation, the program also will join the CFO as a new agency partner in the environment/animals category.

The Gary Funk Running Jenny Fund for Rural Schools – This Field-of-Interest Fund was established to honor and commemorate outgoing CFO President Gary Funk’s service to the Foundation. Grants from the fund will be used to assist rural schools and education.

Meramec Regional Community Foundation Community Grantmaking Fund – This unrestricted endowment fund will support long-term grantmaking for the Meramec Regional Community Foundation. The Meramec Regional Community Foundation also established a Capacity-Building Fund to provide dollars for grantmaking in the area.

Tri County Pregnancy Resource Center Fund – The newly established Tri County Pregnancy Resource Center established this capacity fund to help support its mission. This component of the Aurora Area Community Foundation also joins the CFO as an agency partner.

West Plains Agriculture-Science Building Fund – The West Plains R-7 Educational Foundation established this capacity-building fund as a component of the Community Foundation of West Plains to support an agriculture-science building project.

EMH at West Plains High School Fund – Haley Bray and Kathy Miller, along with the West Plains R-7 Educational Foundation established this capacity-building fund to support the Educating the Mentally Handicapped program at the high school. This is also a component of the Community Foundation of West Plains.

These programs help with a wide range of needs for people ranging from schoolkids to grandparents.

We’ll profile these grants in two segments this week.

• The $3,300 made available through the Caplan/Kramer Holocaust Museum Award will allow three Springfield R-12 Social Studies teachers to attend workshops this summer at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D. C., for the opportunity to work with curators of the Museum and other teachers from around the country.  The Caplan and Kramer families created the grant to expose teachers to the Museum’s instructional offerings so they can share authentic knowledge of one of the most tragic periods in history.
• The John, Beth and Jack Raidel Fund will provide $1,300 in funding for early intervention for Springfield Public School students who experience repeated absences and poor achievement due to chronic head lice infestations.  The funds from this program provide the appropriate equipment and personal hygiene materials needed to treat these infestations and get the children back to school as quickly as possible, without exposing the remainder of their classmates.  The Raidels were inspired to create this fund after reading an article about the problem for Springfield children.
• The $1,198.00 award made through the David B. Woodruff Fund will extend summer school opportunities for youth held in the Greene County Juvenile Detention Center, beyond what is provided through Springfield Public Schools.  This allows for continued instruction for students who are traditionally behind their classmates and the chance to re-enter in the fall better prepared.
• The Lennie Cloud Fund for the Hearing Impaired Fund will provide a $450 scholarship for a hearing-challenged student to attend the Term 8, Sensational Week at Camp Barnabas, which provides services for campers who have hearing or vision difficulties.  The traditional camp experiences will be made available to the scholarship recipient, with the necessary equipment, specially trained staff and services, made available though the Cloud Fund.
• The Eslick Fund will award $948 to Sunshine Baptist Church in Springfield.  William E. Eslick established the fund to provide Southern Baptist Churches in southwest Missouri with capital improvement funding.   Sunshine Baptist plans to replace the Fellowship Hall piano and broaden its music-outreach program.

Watch the website for the second group of 2009-10 Field-of-Interest Grants.

Legacy Society membership is a tangible step toward building charitable assets for the future and sustaining the organizations that serve our communities and neighbors.

CFO’s board of directors understands the importance of planned giving. Because of this, garnering 25 new Legacy Society members in this fiscal year is an annual goal.

For more information on how to give back to your community, please visit this link.  To view a complete list of Legacy Society members, please click here.

Michelle Ducre, executive director of the Community Foundation of Southwest Missouri, Inc., has announced that her organization has received a $625,000 bequest from the late Guthrie Gilmore. The Guthrie Gilmore Fund will benefit three charities that were important to Mr. Gilmore: the First Presbyterian Church of Carthage, American Red Cross, and First United Methodist Church of Carthage. Mr. Gilmore and his wife, Harriet, were members of First Presbyterian Church, where Guthrie served as a deacon. Mr. Gilmore was a veteran of World War II, where he served as a First Sergeant in the U.S. Army. After returning home from the war, Mr. Gilmore worked as a farmer until his retirement.

Carthage attorney Kevin Checkett provided professional assistance to Mr. Gilmore’s planned giving document, and additional support was provided by Doug Crandall of Southwest Missouri Bank Trust. This is the third bequest gift received by the Community Foundation of Southwest Missouri, Inc. during the past six months.

The Community Foundation of Southwest Missouri, Inc. was established in 1999. It serves Barton, Jasper, McDonald, and Newton counties. The foundation currently has 60 different funds and distributed $640,356 in charitable grants during the past fiscal year. It’s total charitable assets are approximately $5.5 million.

The Community Foundation of Southwest Missouri, Inc. has been a regional leader in promoting charitable planned giving. In fact, in its relatively short history, the foundation already has garnered 8 Legacy Funds via bequest, which combine for more than $950,000 in philanthropic funding. This movement is supported by a strong local Legacy Society, which currently has 11 members. Legacy Societies recognize individuals and families who have made charitable planned giving commitments and provide momentum for local philanthropy efforts. Lori Smith is the Community Foundation of Southwest Missouri, Inc.’s board chair.

The Community Foundation of the Ozarks is proud to support the work of the Community Foundation of Southwest Missouri, Inc. For more information contact Michelle Ducre, 417-359-5534.

Dorothy worked at Commerce Bank for more than 30 years, and always found time to work on behalf of the needy, on top of her career. A member of St. John’s Episcopal Church, it was there that she met her husband Louis L. Coover. After a long courtship, they were married until his death in 1970. The couple had no children, and through their estate plan they left a generous portion of their assets to serve the needs of the community.

In 2003, CFO and Commerce Trust Company partnered to expand the impact of grantmaking within the region. Since then, the Louis and Dorothy Coover Regional Grantmaking Program has awarded more than $2 million in support of worthy projects that directly impact the quality of life in the Ozarks. The most recent Coover awards focused directly on thoughtful solutions to conditions associated with rural poverty.

The Louis and Dorothy Coover grantmaking program will continue to be essential to efforts to address the challenges facing our communities. It’s an ongoing effort that’s possible because of a very personal decision made by the Coovers long ago to give something back.

• For more information about the Louis and Dorothy Coover Regional Grantmaking Program, visit the grantmaking section of our website.
• For more information about planned giving, visit the planned giving section of our website.

Nita Jane Ayres, Kimberling City, MO (Table Rock Lake Community Foundation)
Paul O. Barker, Springfield, MO (Community Foundation of the Ozarks)
David & Susan Belcher, Little Rock, AR (Community Foundation of the Ozarks)
John & Barbara Brockschmidt, Springfield, MO (Community Foundation of the Ozarks)
William & Sylvia Cornette, Forsyth, MO (Taney County Community Foundation)
Bridget & Andy Dierks, Springfield, MO (Houston Community Foundation)
Brian & Renee Fogle, Springfield, MO (Aurora Area Community Foundation)
JW and Kirsten Gibbs, Springfield, MO (Community Foundation of the Ozarks)
Mildred & Leona Hoffman, Ste. Genevieve, MO (Valle Schools)
Mimi Kauffman, Springfield, MO (Community Foundation of the Ozarks)
Paul & Charlene Koch, Springfield, MO (Community Foundation of the Ozarks)
Margo Murray, Oakland, CA (Ozark County Community Foundation)
John Nixon, Ozark, MO (Finley River Community Foundation)
Jill & Brad Reynolds, Springfield, MO (Community Foundation of the Ozarks)
Richard & Carol Silvey, West Plains, MO (Community Foundation of West Plains)
Winter Skelton, Springfield, MO (Mount Vernon Area Community Foundation)
JC Smith, Clinton, MO (Truman Lake Community Foundation)
Doug Thornsberry, Springfield, MO (Community Foundation of the Ozarks)
Price Baker Walden, Bolivar, MO (Bolivar Area Community Foundation)

The Foundation’s board of directors has challenged the organization to enlist at least one new Legacy Society member from each affiliate and 20 new members from metropolitan Springfield during this fiscal year. Through thoughtful planned giving, we strengthen community grantmaking, support sustainability of the foundations serving our neighbors and keep vital community capital in the Ozarks region. We hope that you’ll consider making a planned gift to the Foundation or your favorite charity. Please remember that the Community Foundation of the Ozarks staff stands ready to assist you in this effort.

To learn more about the Legacy Society, you can watch a short video featuring CFO’s honorary Legacy Society Ambassadors discussing what inspired them to give something back to their community and even some helpful dialog about how to make a charitable planned gift.

Speaking of planned giving, CFO recently shared a “Planned Giving Tip of the Week” series. Each tip discusses an easy strategy for making a planned gift, something you can share with your donors, volunteers, and friends. If you missed a tip, they’re available here. Methods covered include: making a charity the beneficiary of a life insurance policy, a savings bond, bank account, etc.; setting up a charitable remainder trust; and making a gift of personal property. Go to the web for all the details.

The Foundation’s board of directors has challenged the organization to enlist at least one new Legacy Society member from each affiliate and 20 new members from metropolitan Springfield during this fiscal year. This marks our final weekly tip on how to make a simple planned giving commitment, but each tip and a wide range of additional planned giving resources are available on our web site at www.cfozarks.org or simply by giving us a call at (417) 864-6199. These commitments are important; they truly will make a difference down the road and they encourage others to think about giving back to the places we call home. This week tip is:

A Specific Bequest in your Will or Trust

Making provisions in your Last Will and Testament or Revocable Trust Agreement for either a specific dollar amount or percentage of your estate to pass to a charitable organization at your death (or the death of the survivor of you and your spouse) is one of the most effective and obvious methods of making a planned charitable gift.

It is also relatively simple to designate the purpose for which your charitable gift is made (e.g., create an endowment or scholarship fund or use for a particular program or field of interest). Individuals with minor children, who might otherwise be reluctant to divert a portion of their estate away from their children, can accomplish both their family and charitable objectives by delaying the distribution to charity, directing that their estate be held in trust for the benefit of their children until the children attain a particular age (e.g. 25 years of age), and then directing that a portion of what remains be distributed to charity and the remainder to their children.

The Community Foundation of Southwest Missouri, Inc., CFO’s largest affiliate, recently announced the addition of a new Legacy Fund. The Dorthadean Moorman Memorial Fund was established by a bequest from Ms. Moorman. The fund will directly benefit Crosslines of Carthage and the College Heights Christian Church. Read more about this most recent example of planned giving here.

View past Planned Giving Tips here.

Please remember that the Community Foundation of the Ozarks staff stands ready to assist you in this effort. A major part of our website (www.cfozarks.org) is dedicated to planned giving, and we have a simple form that signifies your charitable planned giving commitment. In these challenging economic times, this is something that all of us can do to support the community foundation movement. Please contact Gary Funk or Winter Skelton at (417) 864-6199 if you would like to discuss this planned giving option.

As always, thanks for all that you do for the Ozarks!

Dorthadean “DD” died 5/5/08 at the age of 82. She was a resident of St. Luke’s Nursing Center in Carthage at the time of her death. She was born in Galena KS and moved to Carthage at age 6. She graduated from Cottey College in Nevada, and received a Masters in Social Work from Ohio State Univ. She was director of the YWCA in Akron, OH, for a time, then returned to Carthage to care for her mother. She was Director of the Carthage Area United Way from 1983 until 1991. She was a member of PEO and Soroptomist Club, both of Carthage and a member of College Heights Christian Church, Joplin.

Thoughtful planned giving has played a significant role in the growth of the Community Foundation of Southwest Missouri, providing new life to our towns, schools, and the non-profits we serve. A planned gift is simply a legacy to a charitable entity made through a deferred/intentional gift that keeps resources here, working for the benefit of organizations that serve our community. To learn more about planned giving and how you can give something back to your community, visit the planned giving section of our web site.

Charitable Remainder Trust

Creation of a Charitable Remainder Trust during your lifetime can provide significant advantages for you, particularly when it is funded with highly appreciated property. This arrangement involves the irrevocable transfer of assets (most often stocks or real estate) to a Trust, retaining for yourself (or yourself and your spouse) an “annuity” payment for your lifetime or for a term of years, with the remaining assets of the Trust passing to charity at your death (or the death of the survivor of you and your spouse), or upon the expiration of the term of years.

You are entitled to an immediate charitable income tax deduction for the present value of the charity’s future right to receive the trust assets. Additionally, if the Trustee of the Charitable Trust sells the appreciated assets which you transferred to the Trust, you are able to avoid the immediate imposition of capital gains taxes on that sale. The trust will provide a benefit for you (or you and your spouse) for your lifetime and, at your death, the remaining trust assets will pass to the charity without the necessity of probate and qualifying for an estate tax charitable deduction.

You can review past editions of CFO’s Planned Giving Tip of the Week on our web site. Past tips include:

• A charitable beneficiary designation through a T.O.D.
• Life Insurance Beneficiary Designation
• A charitable beneficiary designation through a P.O.D.

Please remember that the Community Foundation of the Ozarks staff stands ready to assist you in this effort. A major part of our website (http://www.cfozarks.org/the-planned-giving-initiative) is dedicated to planned giving, and we have a simple form that signifies your charitable planned giving commitment. In these challenging economic times, this is something that all of us can do to support the community foundation movement. Please contact Gary Funk or Winter Skelton at (417) 864-6199 if you would like to discuss this planned giving option.

As always, thanks for all that you do for the Ozarks!