August is Make-A-Will Month, Time to plan your legacy

One of the most exciting things we can do for the places we love is make a planned gift.

Exciting might not be the first word we associate with making a will, which is the simplest and most common way to make a charitable planned gift, but bear with me for a moment. Planning your estate offers a poignant opportunity to examine your passions and values. When we sit down to decide what causes are important enough to be included in our legacy, the stakes become a bit higher. We catalog our lives, milestone moments, people and places that shaped us and the organizations that enhance our lives. Through this process, we come to understand what gives us purpose.

My parents, Ardis and John, found purpose and support in Red Cloud. They had six children and learned quickly that they had an entire village to help raise us. They did the same for other families; my mother was a teacher and my father farmed and owned a small business. Both were committed community members who gave freely of their time and talents. They are now both deceased but their legacy in Red Cloud continues through their estate gifts.

Many Nebraskans feel the same way, in fact we know of hundreds of generous Nebraskans who have made charitable planned gifts to benefit their hometowns, too. Tim and Judy Lichti of Shickley crafted their estate plans to reflect their gratitude to the community. Around the time the town was established in the late 1800s, Tim’s great-grandfather migrated to the area from Colorado and started a family. The Lichti name became regionally known in the 1950s, when Tim’s father and uncle started a retail oil and gas company, Lichti Bros Oil. Tim and Judy feel endlessly thankful for everything Shickley has given to them, from business success to outstanding education to deep friendships, which is why they decided on a planned gift as one avenue of saying thank you. Their gift will go to Shickley Community Foundation Fund’s unrestricted endowment, empowering future generations to continue the work of volunteers who came before.

Don and Judy Brockmeier in Eustis feel the same way. The couple have deep roots in the area and helped establish their affiliated fund, the Eustis Area Community Foundation Fund. The Brockmeiers' commitment to community and future generations will continue into the foreseeable future. That enduring impact won't just come from the many gifts they've made over the years, but also from their planned gifts to benefit the EACFF unrestricted endowment. The couple have designated both EACFF and Nebraska Community Foundation as beneficiaries on multiple financial accounts. For them, it's a matter of paying it forward.

August is Make-a-Will Month and a perfect opportunity to evaluate what matters most to us and how we want those values to influence our communities after we’re gone. It’s an opportunity more of us need to take advantage of, as only 32% of Americans have a will, according to Caring.com’s 2024 Wills and Estate Planning Survey. With a will, you decide how to use your estate to ensure your family’s security and hometown’s future. Many Nebraskans are beginning to treat their communities as another member of their family, recognizing the essential role the places we call home have in improving quality of life – in creating the margin of excellence that makes our hometowns places we love, not just places we live.

Over the next 10 years in Nebraska, more than $100 billion will transfer from one generation to the next. Charitable gift planning is one of the simplest, most impactful ways to ensure a portion of the multibillion-dollar transfer of wealth remains in your hometown or the community you love. Nebraska Community Foundation suggests leaving 5% of one’s assets to local charitable causes. If everyone left just 5%, it would equate to $5 billion statewide in the next decade. These charitable resources could be used to further community and economic development, better local quality of life and improve our state for the next generation who call it home.

If you’re new to estate planning, Nebraska Community Foundation has extensive resources to help you familiarize yourself with the many ways to make a charitable planned gift, some of which come with tax-wise benefits. Visit http://www.fivetothrivene.org, or contact our director of gift planning, Todd Mekelburg, at [email protected] to learn more about how you can create your own legacy in the place you love.

Jeff Yost is president and CEO of Nebraska Community Foundation. Learn more about NCF’s work at NebraskaHometown.org.