WWW.CFSJC.ORG • (574) 232-0041 • 205 W. JEFFERSON BLVD., SUITE 610 • SOUTH BEND, IN 46601

DECEMBER 2012 CONNECTING PEOPLE WHO CARE WITH CAUSES THAT MATTER

“Reach Back for Others”: Charles Martin Scholarship ExpandsThe Community Foundation launches a $500,000 campaign to increase tuition support and add a summer internship component.

Angela Watson Washington has very warm memories of Charles E. Martin, Sr., the executive director of the YMCA Urban Youth Services Program for more than 20 years. She’s one of Charles’s “kids”—one of the many local African Americans whom he mentored and encouraged. Because of Charles, Angela and hundreds of other students like her went to college, worked hard, and earned degrees. In partnership with leaders from the African American community, the Community Foundation of St. Joseph County established the Charles Martin “Touch a Life” Scholarship in 2009 to create a meaningful and lasting tribute to this remarkable man.

Angela, who now chairs the Charles Martin “Touch a Life” Scholarship Committee, shared some of those memories of Charles with the attendees of the Community Foundation’s recent African American Community Fund Celebration. She recalled the dances that he arranged at the YMCA, where students with honor-roll report cards got in for free. Other members of the committee—Jacquelyn Rucker, Rahman Johnson, and Carla Crittendon—remembered Charles’s help with college applications and financial aid forms; his willingness to take calls from students and their families, even in the middle of family meals; and his constant, caring support at every level, including making sure that his “kids” learned the proper forks to use at fancy dinners.

In addition to their roles in the competitive scholarship process, the members of the Charles Martin “Touch

Angela Watson Washington (left), chair of the Charles Martin “Touch a Life” Scholarship Committee, and fellow Committee member Carla Crittendon. Two of Charles Martin’s “kids,” both women shared memories of the legendary mentor at the Community Foundation’s recent AACF Celebration.

HIGHLIGHTS

Unity Gardens will have some extra support creating its new greenhouse thanks to a recent $15,000 grant from the Community Foundation. The greenhouse will allow the nonprofit organization, which focuses on community gardening and education, to be fully functional year-round.

The Community Foundation recently awarded a major Special Project grant to the Boys & Girls Clubs of St. Joseph County. This $60,000 grant, payable over two years, will help the Boys & Girls Clubs double the size of its mentoring program.

46 representatives from 33 different nonprofits are participating in the Executive Fund Development Leadership program, created and heavily subsidized through a partnership between the Community Foundation and Notre Dame. In the program, accomplished fund raisers from across the country share what they’ve learned to help local organizations prepare for the future. The nine one-day workshops run from September through February.

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One of the many local Unity Garden sites

Boys & Girls Clubs summer programming with the South Bend Silverhawks

COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY • PAGE 2

Like Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, the American Airlines captain who successfully landed his disabled jet in the Hudson River in 2009, Charles Hillman could fly before he could drive.

For three or four months before he got his driver’s license, Charles used to buzz his South Bend home in his Piper trainer to let his mother know that he would soon need a ride home from the airport.

He continued to fly all his life, and was proud to be a member of the “UFO Club”: the United Flying Octogenarians.

“For some people, I guess it’s just in their blood, “says Anne Hillman, Charles’s wife of 58 years. “There was a kind of secret brotherhood... If I saw Charles off in a corner with a group of guys at a party, I knew they were all pilots.”

At 10,000 feet in the air or at ground

level, Charles lived a full life to the very end. His last few days were particularly good ones.

On Monday, he played cards at the home of his dear friend Dr. Les Bodnar, who’d been ill for several weeks but had recently recovered enough to resume their regular bridge match.

On the Morris Park Country Club golf course on Tuesday, Charles shot his best game of golf of the whole season, and his partner played his best round in four years—which meant they “won all the money,” Anne says, with a smile.

On Wednesday, the Burkhart family honored him for his service on the board of Burkhart Advertising. Charles was the only external director on the board, and it meant the world to him to see his portrait hanging on the office wall beside those of the members of the Burkhart family.

That evening, he and Anne had a joyful celebration of their mutual July birthdays, going out to dinner with friends.

Then, on July 15, 2012, he suffered a heart attack while golfing at Morris Park, and died shortly after that.

“Charles had an amazing zest for life,” says Rose Meissner, president of the Community Foundation. “You could see it sparkle in his eyes. He and Anne have been champions of the Community Foundation since our very earliest days. The two of them have a can-do attitude that makes you think everything is possible, and they’re always willing to back it up with their time, energy, and generosity.”

In his will, Charles Hillman made a substantial bequest to the Community Foundation of St. Joseph County, making the Foundation the beneficiary of his IRA and an annuity contract.

That philanthropic decision was in their plan from the start as they worked with

Focusing on Our Donors: Charles Hillman

Charles Hillman, longtime CEO of Mossberg Company, had a passion for flying—and for taking his community to new heights through his dedication to local philanthropy.

their financial advisor, Anne says.

Giving through an IRA maximizes philanthropy’s power. When these retirement savings vehicles are bequeathed directly to children or grandchildren, federal estate taxes, state inheritance taxes, and federal and state income taxes can reduce the value of the gift by as much as 70%. For example, a child could receive as little as $300,000 from a million-dollar IRA after taxes.

But when IRAs are bequeathed directly to a qualified charity, the funds bypass the otherwise applicable taxes. As part of an overall estate plan, a good strategy is to specify that assets qualifying for a “step up” in basis at death be transferred to children, while retirement funds fuel any intended charitable bequests.

Charles believed that philanthropy through the Community Foundation was “clearly one of the most efficient ways to give,” Anne says. Charles also valued the Foundation’s deep roots in our local community.

Together with the Hillmans’ four children, Anne will decide which charities will benefit each year from the Hillman Family Fund, a donor-advised fund with the Foundation.

Because of Charles Hillman’s generosity, the Community Foundation now has even more lift under its wings. To learn how you can include the Community Foundation in your giving plan, visit www.cfsjc.org or call Rose Meissner at (574) 232-0041.

“Charles had an amazing zest for life,” says Rose Meissner, president of the Community Foundation. “You could see it sparkle in his eyes.”

WWW.CFSJC.ORG • (574) 232-0041 • 205 W. JEFFERSON BLVD., SUITE 610 • SOUTH BEND, IN 46601

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a Life” Scholarship Committee serve as mentors to the Charles Martin Scholars, mirroring what Charles did for them by “reaching back for others”—a phrase Charles used often.

In this spirit, the Community Foundation plans to expand the Charles Martin “Touch a Life” Scholarship in 2013 to include a service component, allowing Charles Martin Scholars to work as interns at local charities each summer. The new program will increase tuition assistance, provide valuable work experience, and give Charles Martin Scholars a source of income. It will also inspire hundreds of local children in summer programs at the Boys & Girls Clubs, the Kroc Center, and other charities to pursue a college education through the power of positive example.

“Expanding the Charles Martin “Touch a Life” Scholarship is a very meaningful, effective way to make St. Joseph County a better place,” Rose Meissner, president of the Community Foundation, says. “When we strengthen a part of the community, we strengthen the whole.”

Already, a number of major sponsors have committed their support to this expansion of the Charles Martin

“Touch a Life” Scholarship: the Cressy Foundation; Crowe Horwath; the Pat and Bob Kill Fund; the Laidig Systems, Inc., Fund; Memorial Hospital; Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center; Schurz Communications Foundation; and the University of Notre Dame.

Will you help, too? Your gift will make an even bigger impact than you might think. Through the end of the year, the African American Community Fund will match all contributions, doubling the value of each gift—and doubling your ability to make an impact on the lives of deserving local students.

You can help us expand the Charles Martin Scholarship at www.cfsjc.org. Under “Select a Type of Donation,” choose “Gift Matching Opportunities” and “Charles Martin ‘Touch a Life’ Scholarship.” Or call with your gift: (574) 232-0041.

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This will inspire hundreds of local children to pursue a college education through the power of positive example.

Because of Charles Martin’s mentoring, hundreds of local African-American students went to college.

Make a Gift That Lasts Through the Community FoundationIt’s that time of year again when we all think about our year-end giving. As you consider which charities to support, please include the Community Foundation.

Your gift to us will be permanently invested to generate earnings to support great local charities and causes year after year.

Chances are that many of your favorite charities already have an endowed fund at the Community Foundation. You’ll find the full list of these organizational endowment funds on our website—www.cfsjc.org—where you can make a direct, secure donation.Or you can send a check, noting which fund you wish to benefit.

You can make your gift go even further through matching opportunities. For example, any gift to the Center for History Fund, the winner of this year’s Leighton Award for Nonprofit Excellent, will be doubled. Gifts to the Charles Martin “Touch a Life” Scholarship will be doubled, too, thanks to matching dollars from the African American Community Fund.

Consider starting your own charitable fund. For a commitment of $10,000, payable over a period of up to five years, you can start a fund in your family name and participate each year in deciding which charities to benefit. It’s a simple process: Donor-advised

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DATES/DEADLINES

• Jan. 9, 2013: Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship application deadline

• Mid-January: Indiana Arts Commission free grant information sessions; call for exact dates and times

• Mar. 1: African American Community Fund and Special Project grants application deadline

• Mar. 1: Indiana Arts Commission grant application deadline

• Mar. 1: Charles Martin and Laidig Community Service Scholarship application deadlines

Learn more at www.cfsjc.org or call (574) 232-0041.

funds can be set up in a single visit.

Consider making a gift of appreciated stock. Gifts of stock are fully deductible and avoid capital gains tax. Even if you think your current stock will continue to go up in value, using stock for charitable giving and then buying new stock at a stepped-up basis will save you capital gains taxes down the road.

Set up a Charitable Gift Annuity. Act before December 31, 2012 to save on 2012 taxes. You’ll receive an immediate fixed stream of income, guaranteed for life (and your spouse’s, if applicable). Because annuity rates increase with age, people over 70 often find them especially attractive. And generous tax benefits increase the money that stays in your pocket. Upon death, the assets remaining in your gift annuity go into a permanent fund to benefit your favorite charity or cause.

Finally, make a New Year’s Resolution

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to update your will. Because we believe that everyone should have the opportunity to create a legacy, the Community Foundation offers a free guide to planning your will. The guide explains what information you need to gather and the questions you need to think about before you meet with your attorney. Download this 48-page guide at www.cfsjc.org under our “For Donors” tab, or call us at (574) 232-0041 and we’ll be glad to mail you a copy.

Best wishes from the Community Foundation staff for a wonderful holiday season!

For more information about how to include the Community Foundation in your giving plan, visit www.cfsjc.org or call Rose Meissner, president of the Community Foundation, at (574) 232-0041.