Estate Gifts to Create Designated Funds

Longtime friends Wanda McCall and Geri Smith met in Texas in 1966 and though both endured hardships in life, they went on to achieve personal success: Geri as a physical therapist and Wanda as a nurse. The business-savvy friends donated 18 rental properties to a Texas charity upon moving to Prescott in 1994. In planning their estates, however, they reconsidered their philanthropic strategy, hoping instead to find a beneficiary organization they could trust to use their contributions efficiently and effectively.

To this end, they both named the Yavapai County Community Foundation in their wills and between them, their gifts established six designated funds worth about $7 million. These funds now provide permanent annual support to specific Yavapai County nonprofits that Wanda and Geri selected based on their personal charitable interests, including animal welfare and programs for women.