By Micki McCarthy, CGPA, Director of Planned Giving, OSF HealthCare Foundation
What is an endowment and why do charities, like OSF HealthCare Foundation, talk so much about them? In simple terms, an endowment is a savings account that is invested and the growth is used to provide annual support to the organization. Because the principal is protected and only the earnings are used each year, an endowment has the promise of vital support in perpetuity.
When was the last time you participated in a capital campaign to help your favorite charity such as OSF, your church or alma mater with a new or renovated facility or new or expanding program? Over the past decade the OSF Ministry has celebrated projects like OSF HealthCare Children’s Hospital of Illinois, OSF Richard L. Owens Hospice Home, Jump Trading Simulation & Education Center, OSF Almost Home Kids, The Heller Center for Kids with Cancer, all in Peoria and the Kleine Pediatric Wellness Center in Galesburg, and the Pepe Cancer Center in Rockford, just to name a few. Each project was brought to fruition through the generosity of our donors. Each of these projects transformed the way health care is being delivered to those we serve with the greatest care and love. Philanthropy enabled each project to be built and philanthropy is ensuring ongoing support through the establishment of an endowment to support each of these areas.
At the OSF Foundation, we believe endowments are good stewardship for the blessings God has given us. Monitored by our OSF HealthCare Foundation Board, endowments are a promise that the critical care and research provided throughout our OSF Ministry will have the necessary resources to continue that life-changing and life-saving work far into the future.
Endowments can be supported many ways. People have used the Qualified Charitable Distribution through their IRA as well as gifts of appreciated assets like stock to fund endowments. Both of these options bring wonderful tax benefits to the donor. Endowments can also be supported in the future, through a gift in your Will or estate plan. We call this a Legacy Endowment. Either way, your gift can support the OSF endowment in general or in specific areas. You may also create a specific named endowment fund for you or your family to support the program most meaningful to you.
An endowment can make a transformational difference in helping to sustain the life-affirming Ministry of OSF HealthCare. It can spur innovation that leads to life-saving medical treatments. It can support sacred end-of-life hospice care or create valuable scholarship opportunities for future nurses. And yes, there is beauty in an endowment…the beauty of a philanthropic heart, of good stewardship, and a shared legacy…all leading to the beauty of touching lives in a profound way, far into the future.
For more information on creating a named or family endowment at OSF or on how to support the endowment in general, please contact, Micki McCarthy, CGPA, Director of Planned Giving for the OSF HealthCare Foundation, at: 309-566-5653 or via email: [email protected].
