From James Longley, and his bequest of $4 million in 1915, to today’s diverse groups of individuals, families, foundations and companies, Boston Foundation donors have immeasurably strengthened the Greater Boston community – while fulfilling their own charitable goals.
Meet some of our current donors and learn why they chose the Boston Foundation as their partner in philanthropy.
Barrie Landry
Libby and Sid Topol
Microsoft
Also read about some of our donors and their stories as featured in TBF News:
Two Thoughtful Young Partners in Life and Giving: Maggie Schmidt and Kenneth Danila
Tom Bird and the Gift of a Domain Name
Involved in the Life of the City: Fran and Charles Rodgers
Donor Advised Fund
Maggie Schmidt and Kenneth Danila are partners in life and in giving. They have established a Donor Advised Fund at the Boston Foundation to continue a tradition of philanthropy begun by Ms. Schmidt’s parents through a community foundation in Wisconsin. “My parents have been wonderful role models,” she explains. “We made grants for a few years through my family’s fund, but then we decided that we wanted to give in our own community, and so we found our way to the Boston Foundation.” She and her husband, Kenneth Danila, have developed a sophisticated approach to giving. “I think there’s a profound difference between what might be called ‘charity’ and the kind of giving that is a driving force for social change,” he says. “We’re taking advantage of everything the Boston Foundation has to offer by attending programs and reading the publications. We don’t see the Foundation as just a place we ‘give money through’. It’s a two-way street, a partnership.” The couple has also included the Boston Foundation in their long-term estate planning.
Planned and Estate Giving
Paula and Binkley Shorts set up a fund at the Boston Foundation in the mid-1990s. “We felt that we’d been very lucky in life, and we wanted to step up our philanthropy and give something more back,” says Mr. Shorts. “We believe strongly that individuals and families need to step up to the plate because government simply isn’t.” His brother-in-law, an estate lawyer, suggested the Boston Foundation.
Strong proponents of planned giving, the Shorts established the Boston Foundation’s first Charitable Gift Annuity. Since that time, they have made other planned gifts, including two Charitable Lead Trusts and a gift of life insurance policies. The Shorts’ three grown children, will eventually become advisors to the fund, when what Paula Shorts calls the “joy of giving” passes to a new generation. Mr. Shorts adds, “The Boston Foundation takes care of everything, so that you can focus on the kinds of activities you want to support with your philanthropy.”
Field of Interest Fund
A Page Browne, Jr. was born in 1932 in Boston and attended schools in Concord, Massachusetts, but left the state to attend Yale University, where he was captain of the crew. In his early working years, he was associated with the international department of a New York bank and in that capacity traveled extensively. “The years I traveled in Russia, Eastern Europe, the Balkans and the Middle East had a great and lasting effect on me,” he wrote. “I saw fear and poverty and long-suffering people.” Inspired by what he had seen firsthand, Mr. Browne returned to Concord and became a tutor for learning disabled and dyslexic children—later working as a tutor at a local schools. He was also active in the community, serving as chairman of the Cancer Fund, Director of the Friends of the Performing Arts and a member of the Old Manse Committee of the Trustees of Reservations.
A. Page Browne, Jr., left a sizeable bequest to the Boston Foundation to establish the Augustus Page and Grace Fagan Browne Memorial Endowment Fund. This permanent fund, named for his parents, will “provide for the needs of the poorest of the poor in Greater Boston, especially for food, shelter, and health care. T. “A. Page Browne’s life experiences were fascinating and shaped his attitudes about humanity and about philanthropy,” said Boston Foundation President and CEO Paul S. Grogan. “The Boston Foundation is honored to fulfill the spirit of his remarkable gift to this community.”
Designated Fund
Robert Minnocci has worked with nonprofit organizations for more than a decade. “Most of my time has been spent fundraising for them, so I know, firsthand, how important philanthropic dollars are to the survival of these agencies. Without those funds, nearly all of them would go out of business or diminish in capacity. As a result, the communities and people who depend on them would suffer tremendously.”
Mr. Minnocci’s estate planning is aimed at providing permanent support for a group of good, solid nonprofit agencies and, at the same time, remembering family members. “As a result,” he explains, “my estate plan is structured to distribute revenue from investments, not principle, and create a permanent legacy of philanthropic giving. Ultimately, the entire asset base will be managed by the Boston Foundation, which will distribute funds to five charities I have designated. I chose the Boston Foundation because it provides a permanent vehicle for me to carry out my philanthrophic wishes into perpetuity.
Private Foundation
Private foundations can be turned into Donor Advised Funds at the Boston Foundation, relieving the administrative burden and allowing for the same kinds of involvement in the grantmaking process. The four adult children of Charles S. Scimeca decided to take the private foundation established by their father, and turn it into a Donor Advised Fund at the Boston Foundation named in honor of their parents. They made the move partially to avoid the administrative hassles of running a foundation, but also to benefit from the Foundation’s expertise. “We wanted our first gift to be made in honor of our father,” says Anita Maria Elliot, “and the Boston Foundation helped us find an organization that felt just right. The flexibility and potential for our own children to become successor advisors was very appealing too.”
“Keeping up a family foundation would have taken too much of our attention,” says her brother Charles Scimeca, Jr. “With a Donor Advised Fund, we can focus on our giving and on each other when we’re together—knowing that we’re in good hands with the Boston Foundation.”