The Office: Funding the Future

Day 10 of the 31 for 21 Challenge

Kim Longo is my hero.

As the Director of Gift Planning for Shepherds, she has an understanding of legalese that completely boggles my mind.

I have a love of words, but that love doesn’t extend to words like bequest, bequeath, endow and irrevocable gift planning. Yikes! Toss in words like beneficiary and stock portfolio, and I’m trembling with insecurity, completely intimidated.

The closest thing I ever came to having a will was the time I wrote, “In case Rob and I get hit by a semi on our trip to Kohler, please make sure our daughter Lani inherits our daughter Taylor. I am of sound mind and body as I’m writing this.”  It was written on the back of an old grocery list two minutes before I ran out the door.  I think I even had Taylor witness it in pen which, of course, made it a completely legal document.

As for other planned giving? I could sooner recite the Belgium national anthem in Portuguese than I could say one intelligible word about appreciated property, capital gains or estate tax.

Not so with Kim - for which we at Shepherds College are very grateful.

Kim has a special role at the college. She creates scholarships! And she does it with knowledge and a passion that makes a difficult subject completely understandable …  for everyone but me ... which is why I asked her to write the rest of this blog:

“I help people use tax laws to give more, pay less, and accomplish more in the Lord’s name. They can establish gift plans that help create income for themselves and their family, reduce their tax bill, and effectively transfer assets from one generation to the next.

But it doesn’t end there!

Once these gift plans help the donors and their families, they begin helping Shepherds College students through endowed scholarships. So, I encourage people to create gift plans that fund endowments that fund scholarships. It can look like a complex thing, but everything I do has an end goal of making Shepherds College affordable for the average student. 

My work brings blessings to students, but it also brings blessings to the donors. I help regular people discover the hidden philanthropists inside themselves. 

God created each of us as a vessel through which His grace can flow through to others – but so many people have not realized the joy in fulfilling this charitable purpose. The blessing that comes from realizing that God is using YOU to transform someone’s life… it is addictive.  Especially with the Shepherds College students! 

Within three years, donors can see the difference their involvement is making, and it’s a difference that lasts the lifetime of these students.

I love working with scholarships! They open up new possibilities for families that they never imagined… my child can go to college?? My child can learn a career?? My child might possibly live on her own one day?? 

Scholarships open doors for these families that appeared to slam shut on the day their child received the initial diagnosis of an intellectual disability.

I never want money to be an obstacle. My dream is to make Shepherds accessible to every student that can benefit from our exceptional educational program.”

If you have questions for Kim, or if you would like to learn more about providing a brighter future for a student with intellectual disabilities, please contact her at klongo@givetosm.org or call her at 937-708-1695. 

She can help you be a hero too.

 


Shepherds College - Guiding Your Transition to Appropriate Independence. Please visit us at www.shepherdscollege.edu.