Legacy holds inaugural Endowment Awards Ceremony

Legacy Endowment Community Foundation held its inaugural Endowment Awards Ceremony Nov. 15 at the Foundation for Senior Care. This year, Legacy awarded $342,000 to local non-profit organizations, honoring both donors and beneficiaries.

Legacy program officer Jan Pichel and board president Mark Hvasta presented the donations. According to Hvasta, there are over 240 nonprofit organizations in Fallbrook and Bonsall. He said, “Legacy is a different type [of nonprofit], a community foundation that facilitates charitable giving in the community.”

Since 1994, Legacy has created, managed, and protected funds that local donors have provided to aid local nonprofits of their choice. Under an endowment, funds will be available to the non-profit in perpetuity.

Hvasta explained that Legacy uses the funds entrusted to it to support senior causes, children, music, veterans and the disabled. “Whatever is important to the donor is important to us. The board determines where the funds go,” he said.

Recipients included some organizations that have their own endowments – American Association of University Women (AAUW), Boys & Girls Club of Fallbrook, and Fallbrook Music Society. Other local recipients were Fallbrook Land Conservancy, Foundation for Senior Care, SonRise Christian Fellowship, REINS Therapeutic Riding Center, and Fallbrook Senior Citizens Center.

Nonprofits from around North San Diego County that also received funds include Elizabeth Hospice, Cabin by the Lake, San Luis Rey Mission Parish, Oceanside Boys & Girls Club, St. Madeleine Sophie’s Center and Cornerstone Therapeutic Riding Center.

The nonprofits can apply for grants from more than one fund and all grant requests are considered by the grant committee which distributes them. So, a few of the nonprofits received checks from more than one fund. On the other hand, some of the endowments have many beneficiaries that support different missions.

Past donors have included the Ansell Family, AAUW of Fallbrook, Deranian Family, Elisabeth Wilson, Viola McDowell, Mitchell Family, FLC/Dinwiddie-Palomares, Boys & Girls Club of Fallbrook Foundation, and the James Hopson Endowments.

Legacy also has scholarship endowments which were distributed through Fallbrook Union High School last May. They include the Ridgecrest Scholarship, Roberta Collister Scholarship, Juanita Walden Scholarship, and the Jessie T. Yount Scholarship.

Legacy donors make a significant impact on their community. Through thoughtful charitable contributions and careful stewardship, Legacy has distributed nearly $6 million since its inception. Through Legacy, anyone can be a philanthropist.

At the awards ceremony, Pichel recognized “those who had the compassion and foresight to be donors and the groups who help others...thank you from Legacy’s heart.”

For more information about Legacy, visit http://legacyendowment.org/ or email [email protected].