Fund finds hidden wealth for towns

BY LESLIE REED

LINCOLN - As a banker in Otoe County, Doug Friedli saw the scenario all too often.

There'd be a funeral in town. Two or three days later, the kids would come into the bank and cash out their deceased parent's CDs.

"Once you write those cashier's checks to the kids, the last thing you see is the taillights leaving town," Friedli said.

Friedli left his bank president job to become development director for the Nebraska Community Foundation last year. He now is one of the organization's front-line workers in a quest to preserve for rural Nebraska some of the hidden wealth that's already there.

The foundation has set a seemingly modest goal: to retain for rural Nebraska 5 percent of the wealth expected to be bequeathed over the next 50 years. But it has ambitious implications: $1 billion over 10 years.

Now in its 10th year and with $16.4 million in assets held on behalf of itself and affiliated funds, the foundation has a way to go before it attains that ideal.

But its leaders, including President Maxine Moul, a former lieutenant governor and state economic development director, say it has had some of its greatest success in the past two years, despite the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the ailing agriculture economy and a rocky stock market.

The foundation's net assets as of June 30 grew 2.5 percent since last year. The foundation has 155 affiliated funds, including those held on behalf of about 120 Nebraska communities that now handle endowments and fund raising through the foundation.

Leaders also say the foundation's estate-planning efforts are beginning to bear fruit.

The foundation or its affiliated funds would be the beneficiaries of 45 "expectancies" worth an estimated $16.63 million. That's a polite way of saying they're in somebody's will.

That compares to 29 expectancies totaling $10.2 million in 2001-02.

While in the hospital, Bruno Boettcher, 90, of Spencer, Neb., learned of the foundation through a discussion of his estate with his attorney. Boettcher recovered, but the Spencer Community Foundation fund now is in his will.

The amount of the bequest from Boettcher and his wife, Laverne, has not been revealed, but Nebraska Community Foundation Executive Vice President Jeff Yost said it will make a significant difference to Spencer's 540 residents.

"They've lived an incredibly modest lifestyle, they've worked hard and they're savers," Yost said of the Boettchers. "We think that there are Bruno and Laverne Boettchers in every one of these Nebraska communities."

Friedli pointed to Burwell, Neb., as an example of where the foundation has helped spur new optimism about the future of rural Nebraska.

Three members of the Burwell High School Class of 1979 - doctor Hugh Holmquist, dentist Tim Garner and lawyer Dwaine Birch - decided to move back to town in the mid-1990s.

The three were friends from kindergarten through high school but went their separate ways. Birch became a teacher and a coach and lived in Douglas, Neb. Garner joined the Navy and lived in San Diego and other places. Holmquist was a pharmacist in Lincoln and Omaha.

In the late 1980s, Garner said, the three made a pact to earn professional degrees and come back to Burwell.

"Each of us had a great experience growing up here," Birch said.

With eight children among them, the three friends said they want their kids to grow up with the same freedom and family atmosphere they had growing up.

Burwell's community fund helped Holmquist pay off his medical school loans. Tim Garner's wife, Kim, led an effort to raise money for new playground equipment using the fund. And Birch helps clients arrange gifts and bequests to the fund.

Going through the Nebraska Community Foundation saves the expense and hassle of IRS filings, audits and investment of the funds. For a fee, foundation staff handles those tasks.

Similar services are offered by other foundations, but the Nebraska Community Foundation takes a statewide perspective and is specifically oriented to rural revitalization.

Last year it began a five-year campaign to raise $300,000 a year to pay for two staff members to help rural communities identify potential benefactors and get endowments started.

Ord attorney Robert Stowell said his community has changed, thanks to a $1.2 million bequest about five years ago by John and Alyce Wozab, who had a title-abstracting and real-estate business in Valley County.

Stowell used to think his home town was dying.

"I don't now," he said. "I firmly believe we can remain viable. I think we can grow."

Note: Information for this report was created using Nebraska Community Foundation's yearly IRS Form 990. 

*This year's data has not been audited.

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