ESTATE GIFTS CAN LAST A LIFETIME!
In the late 1980s, after receiving the first of several significant bequests from supporters who have passed away, the Sky Ranch Foundation created the Sky Ranch Foundation Endowment Fund. It was decided that future "lifetime gifts" (generally - estate gifts of $10,000 or more) would be set aside and conservatively invested. Only the interest, dividends and appreciation would be considered "available" for use in meeting the annual Foundation budget goals. The intention has been to keep the underlying principal safe and growing to help meet the future needs of Sky Ranch for many generations to come. It was agreed that the principal would only be touched in the event of a major emergency as declared by the board. Fortunately, that never happened.
Like many portfolios, the Endowment Fund has been hurt by the rocky stock market of the past three years, but it still has grown significantly from its start. Over the next few years our goal is to double the value of the Endowment Fund. This will then allow the annual earnings to cover a significant part of the total costs of the Foundation - particularly the 25 percent or more of the Sky Ranch operating budget provided by the Foundation.
To help us achive that important goal, please consider putting some provision in your estate plan or will for support of Sky Ranch. Believe it or not, in some states, if you do not specify exactly the correct name of the charity, they may receive nothing! So please be exact! To make sure your funds are set aside to last for generations to come, please specify that they are to go to "the Endowment Fund of the Sky Ranch Foundation, Inc., P.O. Box 8420, Fredericksburg, VA 22404. Federal ID# 13-1970360."
For information on ways that you can gain tax benefits while still alive for certaian types of estate gifts, please write to the above address and request our brochure, "Why Not Now?"
