Trust Reaches Five

Exerpt from the Virginia Gazette

A wonderful asset to the community is celebrating five years. The Williamsburg Community Trust evolved from the city's 300th and has grown from $100,000 to $1.3 million.

As articulated in a celebratory advertisement in this issue of the Gazette, the trust provides a range of benefits that are vital and unique.

Donors who might be new to the Williamsburg area or who face competing requests can match their interests with local charities by an agency that knows them well, all 75 of them.

Charitable assets are leveraged by effective stewardship to get maximum bang for the buck. As a result, the trust itself takes on a certain gravitas as the “fund of funds” that helps promote philanthropy in general.

The latest trend in estate planning is for affluent couples to set up their own private foundations to underwrite charities. The big mutual fund companies Fidelity and Vanguard make this easy to do. The Williamsburg Community Trust provides the same service, with a twist. The trust can provide valuable guidance on local charities whose needs are great and whose impact is immediate. The operating program is called “Leave a Legacy,” and that's exactly what it does.

The results are spectacular. During its first five years the trust has awarded $634,000 to 65 nonprofits of all sizes. These are fabulous contributions made more so by the fact the trust is earning money as it goes. This is all made possible by pooling the money and managing it professionally. The trustees are pillars of the community, and the corporate sponsors are equally sterling.

Typically gifts are stocks, but they also include real estate, life insurance, retirement assets, and bequests through wills. Gifts can be made to any of four endowments for general or specific use by designated charities. The “Advised Fund” allows the donor to recommend grants annually from income or principal.

You used to have to go to Richmond to get anything sophisticated like estate planning. Now we have many estate planners, and the trust is the ultimate source for conducting living gifts.

The primary advantage is leveraging local money to local causes, but there's an incentive as well. For every dollar raised by the trust, Ukrop's Supermarket will match with 50 cents up to $1 million.