For the past 27 years, the Eastern West Virginia Community Foundation (EWVCF) has worked closely with local attorneys, estate planners, CPAs, and bank trust officers to help their clients create a lasting legacy by making a gift to the Community Foundation. Our very first fund was established thanks to a bank trust officer who introduced George Hancock to our founding President Doug Roach. Mr. Hancock had created a scholarship in memory of his wife Holly Woods Hancock at the bank and he realized that EWVCF was the perfect fit for his scholarship. Since then, dozens of funds have been established at the Community Foundation through the efforts of professional advisors who have helped clients direct gifts through their charitable trusts and wills.
In order to provide technical support to area professional advisors, the Community Foundation has recently partnered with Embolden to create a twice-monthly Professional Advisors Newsletter. Laura McKnight, president of Embolden, has years of experience both as an attorney and as the former CEO of the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation. McKnight created Embolden to provide content for Community Foundations to better communicate with local professional advisors. She researches and writes articles that cover everything from Qualified Charitable Distributions from traditional IRAs to pending legislation that may impact charitable giving. Embolden’s vast content library will help professional advisors who may not know exactly what a Community Foundation does.
The Foundation’s previous work with attorneys, accountants, trust officers, wealth managers, and other technical advisors has led to relationships with clients that ensured philanthropic legacies that will last forever. Individuals such as Henry Willard II, Stephen W. Sensabaugh, and Col. Dennis D. Barron were all connected to EWVCF by professional advisors, and all three were able to carefully plan and leave legacies that will benefit nonprofit organizations in our region for generations.
Henry Willard was generous throughout his lifetime, making numerous unrestricted gifts to EWVCF. With guidance from his attorney, Mr. Willard created an estate plan that contributed $3.45 million to local Berkeley and Jefferson County charities, including $1 million to the Community Foundation. Mr. Willard’s generosity has provided essential resources to help EWVCF award grants during the coronavirus pandemic.
Stephen W. Sensabaugh of Inwood was employed by Workforce West Virginia. He was introduced to the community foundation several years ago by a bank trust officer who, with a local attorney, was helping Mr. Sensabaugh create an Irrevocable Trust to benefit favorite charities. Thanks to their efforts and Mr. Sensabaugh’s generosity, just over $200,000 was recently added to the Community Foundation’s unrestricted endowment.
Before passing away in 2016, Col. Dennis D. Barron established two funds to benefit the West Virginia Civil Air Patrol, one of which was a cadet scholarship fund that awarded three $5,000 scholarships in 2022. Col. Barron worked closely with a local attorney to draft a last will and testament that, upon his death, added more than $1 million to these two funds at the Community Foundation.
Professional advisors interested in learning more about Barron’s legacy, and in introducing their clients to the good work done by the Foundation, can read more in this week’s Professional Advisor’s Newsletter from EWVCF. Through our new partnership with Embolden, we at the Foundation are excited to connect with professional advisors in order to help their clients cultivate a legacy of philanthropy. To learn more and subscribe, visit the Community Foundation website at www.EWVCF.org or call Michael Whalton at 304-264-0353.