Earlier this month, the Women’s Fund Legacy Society members gathered with Group Captains and Individual Members to celebrate a recent generous bequest to the Women’s Fund. Attendees learned about the history and philanthropic potential of our endowment and the Legacy Society.
A perfect example of just how powerful a planned gift can be was the $268,000 bequest from the estate of Robin Riblet, which we received in February. Robin was both a Group member and an Individual member, and her gift was remarkable in many ways. Robin was already a Legacy Society current gift donor, and she made the additional bequest during the very last days of her life. She definitely wanted her life and her passing to have a lasting impact on the Women’s Fund and her community. She had a deep conviction about the responsive grants we’ve given year after year, and she wanted to help sustain that support.
Robin’s gift not only boosted the endowment past the $1M mark, it inspired others to contribute. At the event, an additional $130,000 in current gifts, inspired by Robin’s generosity, were announced.
The Women’s Fund has had an endowment since 2012, but until recently, we focused on growing and strengthening the annual grants pool contributions rather than the endowment.
In 2023, the Legacy Society was formed to help boost endowment growth and steward donors. The team was committed to encouraging more endowment gifts—both current and planned—and the work paid off. The endowment began to grow as more members began to include our endowment in their estate plans.
Dannell Stuart, Partner and President of Mission Wealth, a Women’s Fund member since 2011, and a key member of the Women’s Fund Endowment Committee, provided a valuable overview of our endowment, which is a long-term resource that will sustain our mission and strengthen future grantmaking. Dannell reviewed how the endowment is invested and described some of the many ways we can give to the endowment through current contributions and through our estate plans.
To learn more about joining the visionary and compassionate women of the Legacy Society and donating to our endowment, visit our Legacy Society page.