If you haven’t already, meet Steve and Cindy Stansfield. Long-time residents of Fort Collins, Steve and Cindy are well-known in Northern Colorado. In part due to their long history in the region and the relationships they have with other community members, they just became fundholders at the Foundation.
Steve and Cindy have had meaningful, fulfilling careers– Steve as the Founder of Realtec Commercial Real Estate Services and Cindy as an educator in the Poudre School District. They invested time, talent, and treasure into the community they love and supported many change-making organizations in the process.
Now Steve and Cindy are making plans for their estate after their lifetimes, including what to do with an investment property. Both the Stanfields’ financial advisor and attorney recommended they meet with the Community Foundation to discuss how they could potentially donate their property.
“We’d known about the Community Foundation for a long time,” says Steve. “We know many of the people on the Board, which automatically lent some credibility to its leadership. [The Foundation] is an established entity in Fort Collins helping people with similar goals to ours, so we had a real comfort level getting started.”
With guidance from the Community Foundation, Steve and Cindy decided to gift their property after their passing to a designated fund. This fund will continue a scholarship the Stansfields established to support students in Otis, Colorado where Steve’s mom was a music teacher. “The continuity of being able to administer our wishes beyond our death was really what prompted us to consider the Community Foundation,” says Steve.
Throughout the process of arranging this gift, the Stanfields learned they could also establish a fund from which they can make donations now, not just after their passing. As their donor advised fund grows with investment earnings, they can contribute to it, then gift from it to the organizations they already support. “The Foundation simplified how to give,” says Cindy, “And [our giving] can continue on after our lifetimes.”
The culmination of their giving plan, however, (what, there’s more?!) is that the Stanfields have joined the Foundation’s most esteemed donors as members of the Legacy Society. They have committed a portion of their estate upon their passing to the Community Foundation.
“Philosophically, we can see a reason to be as generous as we can be,” says Steve. “We have thankfully done well with our monies and incomes,” says Cindy, “and I was an elementary school teacher– sharing is important!”
When asked what their advice would be to someone wanting to know more about the Community Foundation, Cindy says, “they just need to talk to someone from the Community Foundation. That was very enlightening. It helped me understand what [our options were].”
The Stansfields are a great example of this. In addition to a beautiful family legacy honoring Steve’s mom, Steve and Cindy will now have a lasting legacy and dedicated gift tool to support the organizations near and dear to their hearts.
