Leave a legacy and bring light to darkness

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 18/12/2023 (662 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

As we get towards the end of the year, we are invited to contemplate larger perspectives. I thought this would be a good time to revisit a topic I wrote about 10 years ago: leaving a legacy. Compared to then, today the world is a darker place. But in researching this column, I rediscovered a local source of light.

First, consider the darkness. Many things are worse now than 10 years ago; darker now in ways that were not even factors in 2013. Some examples: our youth anxious and depressed because of social media; our society distracted and divided by bad information and conspiracy theories; new addictive drugs causing crime, homelessness and death. There are the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. And the threat posed by a second term of Donald Trump.

And hovering over everything are existential dangers that seem more pressing now than ever: climate change, nuclear war, another pandemic and technologies like AI.

But even with darkness in the world, each of us has only our present moment. What we do each day is our chance, which also contributes to our legacy and how we light the way for following generations.

Now for today’s topic: specific suggestions for leaving a legacy. We can start by preparing for our eventual end. We don’t usually know when we approach the end of our life, but it is never too early to start preparing. Because, before we know, it could be too late.

So, we can make that start: cleaning up our stuff, drafting a will, writing our life story, planning for our funeral and such. These actions are appreciated by those who will carry on.

One way to leave a legacy is to establish something tangible in the community. For a recent anniversary, my wife and I celebrated with a tree. For a $250 donation, the City of Brandon plants the tree and gets it going. A tree lives a long time! (I notice that the Brandon Riverbank has a similar program).

Making a donation to a local foundation is an excellent way to leave a legacy. Donations add to a foundation’s capital; only the earnings are disbursed. So, your gift literally lasts forever. Talk about a legacy!

To get some ideas, I sat down with Laura Kempthorne, Executive Director of the Brandon Area Community Foundation. BACF impacts the city and Westman. There are about 20 community foundations in our area; for more about them, check out the website of Endow Manitoba.

There are several ways to contribute to the BACF. The easiest way is a donation to the general community fund. You have the satisfaction of knowing that your gift will be preserved in perpetuity, with the earnings providing grants that meet community needs every year. You can donate any amount. You also pocket an income tax credit, which can reduce the cost of your donation by as much as 46 per cent.

Individual endowment funds can also be set up within the BACF. One kind is a designated fund, where the earnings go to a specified charity; a minimum of $10,000 is required. Another is a fund with a field of interest, such as the arts, environment, heritage or youth for which a minimum of $25,000 is needed. Funds can be added to over time and can be named or kept anonymous.

An endowment fund makes a great memorial. Your loved one is no longer here, but their name and their passions live on. As Kempthorne is fond of saying, funds immortalize what the person “lived for, rather than died of.”

I was pleasantly surprised at just how much the BACF has become a quiet centre of strength in our community. Ten years ago when I wrote about leaving a legacy, the BACF had assets of $5 million. Today it is $20 million. The foundation recently has been able to give out grants of over $1 million a year. That is many local projects assisted and much community capacity built.

And something about the current moment is bringing out a surge of interest in addressing community needs. Kempthorne saw a change in the pandemic year, 2020.

“That fall was our busiest ever,” she recalls, “and it hasn’t slowed down.” A fresh influx of folks are contacting the foundation, asking, “How can we help?”

The BACF is a vital source of funding for the community. And it is more. It is a means of connecting citizens, needs and dreams throughout Westman. Kempthorne is in awe of the projects supported, creativity generated, networks forged, generosity demonstrated.

Often at the end of a work day, all Kempthorne can say is “Wow!”