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Do Good to Feel Good?
Yes, charitable giving and philanthropy can and do make life better for others. And donors themselves may be happier, too.
It's no secret buying things for yourself - clothes, cars, boats, houses - won't yield happiness. But some research suggests spending money on others yields personal satisfaction. Conducted by social psychologist Elizabeth Dunn at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, three surveys - one using 46 of her students, one on how 16 employees at a Boston company spent their bonuses, and one using 632 people across the United States - all indicated people feel happier spending money on others rather than on themselves.
Dunn believes the surveys confirm that altruistic spending has a significant impact on personal happiness.
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New Eyes on the Prize: Benefits for Our Clients
As our new Managing Director of Development & External Relations, Janet Y. Spears is responsible for developing new clients and satisfying expectations of our current clients. With state-of-the-art experience developed as an Executive Director in AT&T Marketing, Janet knows customer benefits and the kinds of personal service and technical support that lead to those benefits.
In her spare time, Janet was also Chief Financial Officer for a non-profit organization with an annual budget of $2 million, whose responsibility included building financial support.
As our new Director of Donor Engagement succeeding Joan Cosper, Abbey Banks works with our clients most seriously interested in partnering with the East Bay Community Foundation on significant giving. She provides our most engaged clients with research on needs we've identified as "high priority" in Alameda and Contra Costa counties. She helps them leverage their giving to these causes along with the Foundation's own giving and along with the giving of our other clients who are similarly engaged.
Before coming to the Foundation, she was Director of Membership for Net Impact, a San Francisco-based nonprofit organization dedicated to cultivating a global network of leaders using business skills to improve the world. For more than 10 years, she was also a board member and director of a small private foundation.
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Fantastic Attendance at Spring Seminar: Estate Planning for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender (LGBT) Clients
Almost 100 professional advisors attended our March 18 seminar presented by Susan von Herrmann, partner and member of the Estates and Trusts Group at Fitzgerald Abbott & Beardsley LLP. The seminar explored complex issues professionals encounter when planning and drafting documents for LGBT clients. Ms. von Herrmann focuses her practice on estate planning, charitable planned giving and wealth preservation, and has expertise in assisting non-traditional families. Her presentation included an overview of the California Domestic Partnership law, including the new California income-tax filing requirements and the fairly recent addition of registered domestic partners to the list of exempt transferees under Proposition 13.
She also discussed technical issues, including the importance of proper characterization of assets, how the federal gift-and-estate-tax rules impact both registered and non-registered domestic partners - as well as best practices when drafting to preserve assets and protect families.
Materials from the session are available by contacting Director of Development, Sara DuBois, at 510.208.0817 or sdubois@eastbaycf.org.
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Local Law Firm Makes a Big Impact in Philanthropy
When the law firm Fitzgerald Abbott & Beardsley LLP, gave $125,000 to the Alameda County Community Food Bank recently, it was no surprise to us. Fitzgerald Partner Tim Smallsreed, who serves on both our Board of Directors and our Professional Advisors Committee, knows charitable giving himself and comes from a firm that has serious philanthropic intentions of its own.
The law firm's gift is thought to be the largest single donation to the food bank from a professional services firm. Smallsreed, a member of the firm's Business and Corporate Transactions and Estates and Trusts Practice Groups, is also a member of the Foundation's 26-person advisory committee consisting of top estate, financial and tax-planning professionals. The Committee meets regularly and serves as an invaluable sounding board for the Foundation's marketing and service strategies.
For more information about the Professional Advisors Committee or the Foundation's services to professional advisors, please contact Sara DuBois, Director of Development, at 510.208.0817 or sdubois@eastbaycf.org.
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Community Foundations' Growing Popularity
Giving by community foundations grew 13.9 percent between 2006 and 2007, a greater rate of growth than that experienced by corporate foundations or independent foundations, according to a study, "Foundation Growth and Giving Estimates 2008 Edition," published by the Foundation Center. The study noted that giving from all foundations during that period of time grew 10 percent to a total of $42.9 billion. Of that total, community foundations were responsible for $4.1 billion.
"Since the start of the 1990s," the study said, "the rate of growth in community foundation giving has surpassed that of U.S. foundations overall in all but two years."
Why?
"Community foundations benefit in both more and less prosperous times from having a broad pool of individual donors. The increased funding of many donors can more than balance out those that have reduced giving," the study concluded. "An additional factor promoting strong growth in community foundation giving may be that donor-advised funds of community foundations can be seen as a less costly and time-consuming alternative to maintaining a separate, endowed institution. They can also provide the means for donors with multiple philanthropic vehicles and giving priorities to more easily segment their giving."
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