If I can’t smoke it, eat it or drink it, don’t buy it for me!  A friend told us this story as something his father told him a few years ago about gift giving! He’d prefer a fine cigar, well-aged bourbon or meal he could enjoy with others rather than stuff.  Are you or those you love of that mindset?  If so, another gift you may like to give or receive is a donation made in your honor to a cause important to you.   

One of our past Board chairs, Jon Manns, a retired PPG plant manager, has enjoyed making donations and getting feedback on his gifts.  In Jon’s own words, here’s how it works: “The Community Foundation offers a neat opportunity at the end of the year to make a donation to the Foundation as an honorarium (a gift honoring a certain person).  The Foundation sends a personalized card to the person being honored. Over the past few years, I select 5 different people that I personally want to recognize – for something that was noteworthy for me during the year. They will receive an official card identifying the recognition and what it was for. It has been a powerful and unique way for me to show my appreciation to different people I have interacted with during the year. I have two instances of people getting the mail and thinking it was a request for a donation and then be floored with what they read inside. One person said they couldn’t help but “have tears in their eyes” when they read the card.  I need to start figuring out who I want to recognize for 2024.”

I recently had a lovely visit with a philanthropist in Baton Rouge, Donna Saurage, who I’ve gotten to know through her role as a past Board member and involved donor with our partner, the Baton Rouge Area Foundation.  She told me that over 30 years ago, when she was in her 50s, her husband, Norman, asked her what she wanted for Christmas.  Her reply is not one you hear every day.  She said, “I’d like a Donor Advised Fund at the Baton Rouge Area Foundation!”  Donor Advised Funds were relatively new at the time, but she was serving on the BRAF board and had learned how they worked.  So, for Christmas that year, Donna Saurage, now 85, received a gift from her husband creating a Donor Advised Fund.  She loved that it allowed her to support causes important to her and her family without having a direct impact on the monthly budget she managed for her family of 5 children.  It was her dollars for doing good and setting an example of philanthropy with their children which continues today with children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.

The end of the year is not the only time people make tax smart decisions with their charitable giving, but it is definitely a good time to do so.  If you’re thinking about what will be a gift that is truly appreciated by the recipient, giving to a nonprofit whose mission that person cherishes is something to consider.  For people that love Southwest Louisiana and want to see the Just Imagine SWLA 50 year plan continue to be implemented, a donation to the Community Foundation just may make them smile.  I can imagine that many people in our area, like Jon Manns and his friends and family, would be all smiles knowing that the gift honoring them is making a positive, lasting impact in Southwest Louisiana.  While you can’t smoke, eat it, or drink it; when it comes to gift giving, it might just be the right stuff!

·

Sara McLeod Judson is the CEO of the Community Foundation SWLA. She can be reached at 337-491-6688 or sjudson@foundationswla.org.