Inspired Stories: Legacy Mentors Newsletter Volume 1, Summer 2006

Board Member Team Member Upcoming Events Products Board Member Bob Belkin IL Board Chair Marketing/Management Consultant & legacy advisor Bob Belkin's experience and expertise is in the areas of Market Management, Strategic Planning and Organizational Development. His thirty plus year career included senior level management in national and international corporate development. More recently he was cofounder of Planned Giving Associates, an organization dedicated to assisting nonprofits in starting planned giving programs for their donors. He is an active volunteer in his community and he and his wife Marguerite have resided in Houston for the past twenty-five years. See also our whole team. Team Member Lorrie Lampson Operations & Research Manager Lorrie Lampson joined Inspired Legacies as our Operations Manager and Research Associate in March upon the opening of our Houston office. Lorrie is a native Houstonian and she attended Sarah Lawrence College. Upon her return to Houston she continued her education at Rice University where she worked in their Print & Web Publications department. Lorrie's passion for the nonprofit community has been exemplified in the documentary photography and volunteer work which she has done. Lorrie will be engaging youth in a youth giving circle while at Inspired Legacies as well as helping The Cherryhurst Neighborhood Association. Upcoming Events June 25-30: Transformative Philanthropy Conference, Gold Lake, Colorado. July 3: Delta Delta Conference, Burbank, California. July 6-8: The Tipping Point Network, Novato, California. July 20-21: Women's Fund of Central Ohio, Columbus, Ohio. August 4-6: Grassroots fund-raising Conference. Berkeley, California. September 3: Kansas Foundation, Kansas. September 14: Riverbend Church, Austin, Texas. September 19: Central Indiana Women's Foundation, Indiana. September 26: Nautilus, Cincinnati, Ohio. September 27: Community Shares, Wisconsin. View our calendar for more. Products Inspired Philanthropy: Your Step by Step Guide to Creating a Giving Plan by Tracy Gary & Melissa Kohner Jossey-Bass, publisher, 2002 The updated and expanded edition will include legacy worksheets by fall 2007. Available online at Jossey-Bass s This summer we suggest you consider checking philanthropy blogs. The only one that we've found that exchanges about giving and legacy issues is a remarkable site called: gifthub.org We invite you to blog with us there. Please feel free to send us links to blogs that address legacy or philanthropic planning and revitalize democracy through citizen participation. Receive another Inspired Stories! We welcome your feedback and ideas at any time! To contribute to the next issue of Inspired Stories, please submit by September 1.

"Can we transform the gifts we are given?"
Orland Bishop, activist

View From the Founder
Legacy Partnerships
Letters to Loved Ones
Transitions
Legacy Mentor Tools
Making Change Happen

View from the Founder

• How can I convince my clients to do more strategic giving and legacy planning?
• How might I do more for my family and community?
• Can you help us resolve things with my kids before it's too late?

Welcome to the Inspired Legacies quarterly newsletter! Inspired Legacies originated with donors, nonprofits, and advisors whose stories have graced and inspired my own journey as a philanthropic and legacy advisor. I first heard the questions above in the early 80's at another nonprofit I helped found, ful Women. In collaboration with over three thousand women and their families, we found that we could leverage the influence and wisdom of families. We did so by encouraging these "ful" women to lead their families to better guidance and more intentional engagement with their communities. We continue to ask these questions and others as we accompany families and advisors in philanthropic and legacy planning. Our mission is to provide donor-centered, community-inspired training, s, and strategic support to advance the highest ideals and best practices of legacy, financial, and philanthropic planning.

Dedication

We dedicate this issue to Philip Cubeta, whose wisdom we acknowledge as a mentor, community , and inspiration. A calling comes in many forms. For Inspired Legacies it was volunteer and friend, Phil Cubeta's diligent persuasion and sharing of his wisdom of how much the field of legacy planning needed more leadership from high net worth individuals to lead their families and advisory teams to enable more good for their communities and those they love.

Commitment

When my own mother died in the summer of 2005 I saw the power of what a conscious transition could be. In an effort to assist more people to have that kind of freedom and intention, I committed to launching Inspired Legacies in her honor. Formed in February 2006, the mission of Inspired Legacies is to inspire legacy mentors to engage their advisors and communities and to manifest the joys of greater generosity. We prioritize our services for high net worth individuals and families; values based advisors; and advisory firms who coach, guide, and work for these families as well as the nonprofits whose mission match the philanthropic and legacy dreams of these citizens.

Office Open, Programs Running

This newsletter marks my full time commitment to Inspired Legacies. We have opened our office, gathered a new board, hired Lorrie Lampson as our operations and research manager, found our virtual team, and been graced with seed money as start up funds from "legacy mentor" Jean Beard and our board members. We engaged Jeff Grossberg, from Guidestone Consulting, to survey our field. We tested our theories for four months in some 25 programs on "Living and Leaving Your Legacy" (see our Are you A Legacy Mentor questionnaire and definition) with advisors, donors, and nonprofit leaders. The response has been resounding applause and encouragement.

The Missing Piece

It is clear that for the legacy planning field to be balanced, donors and their families must gather and lead their financial and family teams as never before. This is the missing piece. We know that many donors wish they could pass intentionally what they care about to the next generation. We also know that many are full of good intentions but are not manifesting all they can. We know that less than 20% of Americans mention any nonprofit in their wills even though they may annually be giving to 10 or 20 or more. Most of us are still giving only from income (as Claude Rosenberg and New Tithing's reports show us).

Let the Curtain Go Up

Inspired Legacies stands, as I have for years, in service as accompaniment to you, the players, in one amazing opera. We are all scrambling to make our lives, our families, our world, and therefore, our contributions right. But we are also part of a story quite larger than ourselves and our personal or material needs. Our universe and the survival of the planet and species as well as of neighbors and cultures need our attention and our fulness as never before. Let the lights and curtain go up. Let song be heard from the chorus and players, Inspired Legacies is shaping a movement of legacy mentors for the common good.

Let us hear your voice and commitment.

See the services which IL offers.

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Legacy Partnerships

Inspired Legacies formed in February 2006 with the intent to explore how to catalyze and communicate the best practices in legacy mentorship. We will be spending the next few years identifying and interviewing 250 key legacy mentors: donors and advisors who are intentional with their giving and legacy leaving. (See our definition of a legacy mentor and Are You a Legacy Mentor?).

Breakthroughs

What is the most transformative breakthrough now present in the legacy field? Is it the democratization of philanthropy and legacy planning (not only the wealthy can be legacy mentors!), or new computer models such as the exemplary work by the Planned Giving Design Center or New Tithing to help advisors and donors calculate what can be given to still have a win-win for our heirs and community?

We send the prize this summer for breakthroughs to Warren Buffett (age 75) for his announcement of astounding generosity in late June. From what was initially full intent to give upon his death, Mr. Buffett in the next few years will now be giving the bulk of his fortune to several foundations (some $37 Billion or 85% of his estimated $44 Billion in assets). Mr. Buffett's decision to donate some $31 Billion of his fortune to The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will double the assets and the capacities of the Gates Foundation.

Seismic Shift

This legacy linking represents a powerful partnership that is sure to cascade other gifts and set the legacy and philanthropic fields in a seismic shift. How lucky we are to witness these remarkable transfers of wealth in our lifetime! And how inspirational! Hearing of Warren Buffett's action, would you rather give more during your lifetime if possible as well?

• Would you like to help people to give more now toward their legacy?
• Have you considered who your legacy partnership team would be if you were to engage other technicians or dreamers in your dream making?
• Do you have a trusted advisor truly aware of your passion about giving and philanthropy?
• What factors need to be considered to engage the next generation in some of the decisions about legacy or gifting?
• How will you determine if the right step is to open a donor-advised account at a local community foundation, a women's fund, or social change fund, to start a family foundation or to give much of it away directly before you die?

These are essential questions and they require what Inspired Legacies offers: accompaniment and good referrals. For more questions like these, we provide an Advisor Interview Questionnaire as well as a Questionnaire for Advisors to ask of Clients. Would you like to have a philanthropic or legacy advisor present or to engage someone with financial, legal, and accounting knowledge who is savvy about potential giving vehicles like charitable lead trusts or other creative giving methods? Please see our services.

Creating Outstanding Legacies

Inspired Legacies is seeking names of and introductions to outstanding Legacy Mentors: advisors and donors of all walks of life who are engaging powerful partnerships as Warren Buffet has just modeled. May he and his team — and you and your team — manifest the maximum possibilities of unleashing generosity and joy. We look forward to sharing stories of legacy partnerships where advisors, donors, and nonprofits come together to create outstanding legacies.

If you have a contact that you would like to recommend as a legacy mentor or outstanding advisor for IL, please email Tracy. If you would like to see what services we offer, please browse our service area.

Coming soon in our Fall newsletter: A discussion about Legacy Partnership from our new report prepared by Jeff Grossberg of Guidestone Consulting: Enhancing the Legacy Planning Field: An Environmental Scan with Preliminary Analysis.

We welcome your feedback and ideas at any time!

Recent Inspired Legacy events span the US and Canada.

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Letters to Loved Ones

Dear Sarah, Josh and Jeffrey,

At 92 and 89, our lives have been so rich with each other and certainly with our entire family and circle of friends. We want to be sure you fully understand our intentions and our wishes.

Our legacy advisor from Inspired Legacies reminded us:

• What about the loans which you have made over time to your kids?
• Do they know about the amounts and history of these loans, or your intentions and hopes for having them repaid?
• Would you like what's still owed to you to go to the estate or to be contributed to nonprofits or a project of your choice?

Good questions! Over the years, we have lent each of you money for various endeavors and difficulties. And each of your needs in this respect have not been equal.

We realize that it may have caused you stress because the amounts loaned or owed are very different. Let us make this clear: we have tried to be fair and to teach fairness. We must also acknowledge some of your concerns about the impact on your inheritances or our well being in our later years.

Over the last 35 years, with the help our accountant, we kept the loan notes, paid and unpaid. We know who was lent what, who paid back what, and what is outstanding.

It is our full intention at death to honor our message that we love you equally. At the time of our death your inheritances will reflect these loans and their status. We are the parents who wanted to be helpful and support you, even in the end by helping you keep your word.

For the two of you who still have outstanding loans to us, we urge you to pay them soon. We will happily donate the interest and the principal to nonprofits that we love. If you do not pay them back then we will reduce your inheritances appropriately, including interest in fairness to your siblings and the community.

We hope this clears things up and that you will enjoy the chance to give back, to share, to help each other, and our communities with your inheritances, whatever the amounts.

If you wish to discuss this in any way, we are here. But don't wait too long!!! Remember we are old!

Love,
Mom and Dad

Do you have letters that you have or wish you had written to your loved ones? Please send it to us for sharing with others.

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Transitions

This summer we honor the transition and death of long time Nevada philanthropist,
Maya Miller. She lived simply at her ranch, donating millions of dollars of her inherited wealth to both state and national groups. Her home was a gathering spot for many who looked to her for advice and support.

"She had compassion for everyone, especially for the people who have it the
roughest - women and children," said her daughter, Kit Miller. "They were
her #1 priority."

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Legacy Mentor Tools

Guidestone Report for Inspired Legacies

Inspired Legacies has created a few samples. Your feedback and suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Please feel free to download and use them. We only ask that you give us full credit by allowing the copyright to remain. As a nonprofit, we are meanwhile amidst our trademark for Legacy Mentors and Legacy Mentorship.

• Legacy Mentor Definition
• Legacy Mentor Questionnaire

We customize materials for advisors and families on these important dialogues. Here is a short sample:

• Questions for donors to ask advisors in an interview
• Questions for advisors to ask donors

We provide a full series of workshops on Living and Leaving your Legacy (usually 2-2.5 hours worth of 20-25 pages of materials, PowerPoints, panels and dialogue for advisors and/or donors on values based legacy planning and leadership) and our web site can provide full booking information about our services.  We would be honored to work with you, your family, family foundation, community foundation, nonprofit or advisors.

Do you have comments, questions, or suggestions for our Legacy Mentor Tools?

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Making Change Happen

There are now some 1.7 million nonprofits to choose from.

Each quarter we will share links to nonprofits and over the year include many that our readers share with us.  We urge your own due diligence of these nonprofits.

Generation
24 Thorndike St., 2nd Floor
Cambridge, MA 02141
Phone: 617.225.3939
http://www.generation.org
Generation is a national organization that works with young people with financial wealth who are supporting and challenging each other to effect progressive social change through the creative, responsible and strategic use of financial and others.
2006 Annual Budget: $560,000

Global Greengrants
2840 Wilderness Place
Suite A
Boulder, CO 80301
Phone: 303.939.9866
http://www.greengrants.org
Global Greengrants Fund supports grassroots groups working for environmental justice and sustainability around the world. Our grants fund grassroots action in some of the world's most despoiled and impoverished places. Grassroots groups are key to solving intractable problems and halting cycles of poverty, powerlessness and environmental destruction. Our grants offer hope and tap the energy of communities where other sources of support are unavailable. There is no better investment than supporting passionate people with great ideas.
2006 Annual Budget: $3,859,000

Global Fund for Women
1375 Sutter Street, Suite 400
San Francisco, CA 94109, USA
Phone: 415.202.7640
http://www.globalfundforwomen.org/
The Global Fund for Women is a grantmaking foundation supporting women's human rights organizations around the world working to address critical issues such as gaining economic independence, increasing girls' access to education and stopping violence against women.
2006 Annual Budget: $13,500,000

ReunitingAmerica
1257 Siskiyou Boulevard, #87
Ashland, Oregon 97520
Phone: 541.488.4878
http://reunitingamerica.org/
ReunitingAmerica convenes Americans from across the political spectrum in dialogue around areas of mutual concern to build trust and identify opportunities for collaborative action and to reunite America by engaging across the divides.
2006 Annual Budget:  $400,000

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