Guest Column: Endow Orcas Expands Ability to Follow Your Heart

By Helen Bee, Orcas Island Community Foundation Trustee

“Endow Orcas” started out as a farsighted plan by the Community Foundation to help island non-profits develop the systems and skills we would all need to begin to create endowments for our several organizations.  At the invitation of OICF, a group of the larger non-profits began meeting three years ago to explore these issues.  With assistance and critiques from Community Foundation folks, we wrote case statements for endowments; we created plans for moving forward; we examined our existing policies and discovered that we didn’t have everything in place.  Gradually we learned.

At the same time, something much more important also happened.  In the beginning, we were a bit wary of each other, even slightly adversarial.  We worried about keeping “our donors” away from everyone else.  We felt, initially, that we were competing for a scarce resource.  And then that attitude began to change; our collective vision expanded.  We began to trust one another, and slowly we began to think less about the needs of our individual organizations and focus instead on needs of the whole community.  We began to think, truly, about endowing Orcas.

Orcas already has a remarkable culture of giving.  We support over 100 nonprofits with millions of dollars in gifts every year.  We do this because we are passionate about the causes supported by those many organizations.  And we do it because we recognize that our way of life here on this island would not be possible without the work of those 100+ nonprofits.

What all of us in this community need to do now is to shift our focus to an even broader goal: The creation of an even broader culture of giving – on philanthropy that will last beyond our lifetimes.   If we work together, we can endow Orcas so that 50 or 100 years from now, the key organizations that sustain our community will have strength and continuity.  The arts will still flourish; education will be strong; children and adults will all have enough to eat; good medical care will be available for all; the environment will be cherished and preserved; affordable housing will be available; animals will be taken care of – and more.

It doesn’t matter which organization or organizations you might choose to endow.  It only matters that we all join in endowing something – that we each leave a legacy to the island that will sustain our commitments into the future.

I want to make three key points about such legacies.

First, a legacy doesn’t have to be huge in dollar terms to make a lasting difference.  A great example is the Betty Lundeen Book Fund, which was created in 1998 at Betty’s death by donations from Bob Lundeen and many friends and family members.  This fund, which is managed by the Community Foundation, started out with $77,000.  Each year, interest income from that money is given to the public library for the purchase of new books.  Since 1998, roughly $35,000 has been distributed to the library, resulting in the purchase of 2500-2800 books – books we can all enjoy.  Meanwhile, the fund itself has grown to $89,000.  And the income from this fund will continue to enrich our island life forever.

Second, your legacy can be in some other form than dollars.  Land, or a conservation easement that preserves land, is also a legacy that will last beyond your lifetime.  As another example, many of you know that OPAL has been given four houses in the past year.  One of them was donated with the land it sits on.  That house has been remodeled and will be purchased later this month by someone from OPAL’s waiting list.  The other three houses were all given with the proviso that OPAL move the house.  These “recycled” houses are a legacy that will support affordable housing on the island going forward into the future.

Finally, your legacy can be arranged in myriad ways.  You could, for example, leave a bequest to a specific organization, or to several island organizations.  Another great alternative would be to do something like the Betty Lundeen Book Fund:  create a fund at the Community Foundation that is for a specific purpose, or is to be spent in a particular area.  As just one example, you might set up a fund to support preschool education on Orcas.  Then, no matter which preschools are in operation here 50 years from now, your dollars would still be supporting that purpose.  Or create a fund to support music education, or dance programs, or animal welfare, or whatever is your passion.

We urge you to use your imagination, and to follow your heart.

Based on the talk given at the OICF “Report to Community” Luncheon, September 23, 2011.