The Nebraska Community Foundation serves 214 community, organizational and donor-advised affiliated funds in 230 communities located in 77 Nebraska counties. NCF and its affiliated funds have reinvested $138.6 million in Nebraska since 1993.
11/03/2011
In Wauneta, Nebraska, population 625, people no longer travel out of town to get routine medical exams or blood tests. A new health clinic built with donations fills that void. In northeast Nebraska, children in Verdigre are enjoying healthy snacks, exercise, and help with homework at the first-ever after-school program in the area. The program is free, thanks to charitable contributions from the Verdigre Community Foundation Fund.
From border to border, Nebraskans are investing in their hometowns. Today however, they have an opportunity to put philanthropy to work in our communities on an unprecedented scale. More than $600 billion will transfer from one generation to the next in Nebraska over the next 50 years, according to a recent study sponsored by the Nebraska Community Foundation.
On November 2, 2011 leaders from the Nebraska Community Foundation and the Center for Rural Entrepreneurship unveiled the key findings of this Transfer of Wealth study.
The transfer of wealth may represent the single largest under-developed financial resource available to communities to support their development. NCF uses the Intergenerational Transfer of Wealth Study to gauge the potential for philanthropic investment in Nebraska communities and to set goals for charitable giving and gift planning. NCF also uses the data as a call to action.
“The challenge we have is that while people are very generous during their lifetimes, too many fail to make a plan that will continue their charitable giving once they pass away. Some of their wealth will go to taxes. Most of it will go to heirs. And because of outmigration, many of those heirs no longer live where the wealth was built, and they may no longer feel connected to those places, or have the inclination to support them,” said Jeff Yost, NCF president and CEO.
Over the next 50 years, if only 5 percent of the Intergenerational Transfer of Wealth were given back to communities and charitable organizations and held in permanent endowments, more than $30 billion could be realized, with the potential to generate $1.5 billion annually.
For the majority of Nebraska counties, the timing of wealth transfer is critical. In 51 counties the peak years of wealth transfer are happening now or in the next 10 years. After that, the number of estates being transferred each year will decline.
The Nebraska Transfer of Wealth Study was sponsored by the Nebraska Community Foundation and authored by the RUPRI Center for Rural Entrepreneurship. More information about the Nebraska Community Foundation and its Transfer of Wealth Study is available at www.nebcommfound.org/tow_news_room.
Reprinted with permission from Marcia Hora, Stapleton Enterprise.
