The Community Foundation of East Central Illinois (CFECI) “is a publicly supported 501(c)(3) tax-exempt philanthropic organization created in 1972 to encourage and receive contributions establishing endowments for the long-term benefit of east Central Illinois.” They have distributed nearly $16 million to nonprofit organizations in their service area, and they also nurture those organizations through their Center for Nonprofit Excellence and Community Solutions Incubator. President and CEO AlIison Winter came on board in January, having previously worked sales as well as fundraising for The Grainger College of Engineering, and more recently the College of ACES.
With many of our clients thinking about how giving figures into their financial picture, I reached out to Winter to learn more about how CFECI works with potential donors, and financial advisors, to create legacies and address needs in our community. With the passing of the Illinois Gives Tax Credit Act earlier this year, there is a greater incentive to consider establishing an endowed fund with a community foundation, as it provides a 25% State of Illinois tax credit to donors who do just that. The credit taxes effect on January 1st, 2025, and sunsets after five years. You can read more about this at the CFECI website.
Can you give an overview of the mission of CFECI?
Allison Winter: Our mission is to improve the quality of life for all in Central Illinois, and we do that through a diverse, equitable, and inclusive lens. I get to connect donors with their passions and help them create the impact they want to have. We are incredibly donor-centric and focused on making the experience a positive one! We’re able to be that hub of philanthropy and act as a concierge to help donors identify local nonprofits working in our community. All the fees we incur go directly back into the nonprofits across our 9-county service area. We further support our nonprofit partners by hosting training opportunities for Executive Directors and their boards. We host the Community Solutions Incubator to support new and emerging nonprofits. We also provide board training. All of the programs we offer through our Center for Nonprofit Excellence are free to attend, and we are only able to do this because of the generosity of donors in our community.
It is exciting for us to be able to help donors identify what causes and issues are important to them and help find where they can create that impact through their personal giving. Donors might do that through planned giving of assets, through appreciated stock, or through creating a donor advised fund.
If someone comes to you, and is interested in setting up some sort of planning giving, what is that conversation like? How do you work with a potential donor to figure out what makes the most sense for them?
Winter: I ask them who they are, what they do, their values, what types of philanthropy they like to support, and who helps to make these decisions. Usually, people who come in have been giving or volunteering in some capacity. They might have an idea in their mind of an area that is particularly meaningful to them — maybe it’s supporting a student going to college or creating a safe location for folks seeking shelter from domestic abuse or maybe it’s supporting environmental causes or improving local parks. The beauty of CFECI is that we can distribute to ANY nonprofit. We walk through the type of impact a donor wants to create and the process for making it a sustainable impact in perpetuity.
Many times, folks think only of the cash they have in the bank. But we know from research across industry that a person’s wealth is only about 10% cash. So, we talk holistically about assets, such as appreciated stock coming in or property they’ve inherited. Maybe they are coming up on a mile marker birthday — like 70 ½ — and it’s time to think about turning a required minimum distribution into a charitable distribution.
There are lots of ways to have these conversations around philanthropy and creating impact. It takes time, and it’s the donor’s timeline, not mine! That’s important for people to know — again, we are donor-centric. We want to partner with their wealth management person, their accountant, their estate planning attorney and make sure that together we’re creating a gift that makes sense in terms of amount, asset being used to fund the gift, and timing for each individual’s unique circumstance. This is one of the biggest investments a person and their family makes, beyond buying a home and their car. We are here to walk alongside them as they make these decisions to create their legacy.
How do you work with financial advisors and wealth managers to accomplish your donors’ goals?
Winter: We love working with financial advisors and wealth managers. In my role, I get to help donors dream about the change they want to see in the community. As I mentioned, many times a donor is thinking only of their cash in the bank. Our professional wealth advisors know the full scope of their clients’ assets and can help them choose the asset that makes the most sense for the impact their client wants to create. Should we set up a donor advised fund? Should we fund this through appreciated stock and avoid capital gains tax? Should we donate some of the farmland or a different residence? It’s an awesome partnership to be invited to brainstorm together with the donor and their advisor to raise the quality of life across East Central Illinois.
Again, we think a lot about the impact you want to have. Let’s say your someone who’s given to the United Way annual campaign — it’s been taken out of your paycheck for years and you’ve been a volunteer. You want to make sure that you can continue to give to this organization, but now that you’re retired, you aren’t giving directly through the workplace campaign as you once did. What other ways can we help you create that impact now that you’re in a new phase of life? We might think about something that generates income in perpetuity through creating endowed funds, which will last and leave a legacy in the community. It generates renewable income that will grow over time, and you’ll know that the people served by our United Way will continue to receive your support even after you are gone. That’s how we talk through it. We work a little bit backwards. Yes, you can set up a fund for this amount, or are you thinking about something larger? How can we get there together?
Is there a “right” time for someone to start thinking about these things?
Winter: It’s always a good time to think about it! I talk about it all the time because I don’t know when the right time is going to be for it to land with you. We know people tend to change their beneficiaries and estate plans when there’s a life change happening: babies are born, loved ones pass away, etc. These are big life changes and often folks need to recalibrate their intentions. It can feel like an uncomfortable and taboo topic, but it’s one of the things we know for certain in life. And while you’re alive, you get to decide where your money goes — which people and organizations are going to receive those gifts. You worked a long time and it’s your legacy to create. We are here to help talk through how to create impact in your community in a long-term, sustainable way for years
You can learn more about the work of Community Foundation of East Central Illinois and ways to give through their organization at their website.