For Don and Sally Chester, giving back to the community has been a way of life.
Both have served on local and state charitable boards for decades. And they have been involved with the Community Foundation since its earliest days. Their philanthropic efforts include establishing the Sally and Don Chester Family Fund with the foundation, funding scholarships with a local university and other organizations.
The couple wants to make sure that their giving continues when they’re no longer here. To do that, they turned to the foundation to set up a $2 million endowment — a legacy gift that will continue to support four charities of their choosing after they pass away.
“Rather than try to give away in an estate a certain amount of money to different charities, we said: ‘Why don’t we just make sure that it keeps going,’” Don said. “And we felt that the Community Foundation, which has an outstanding reputation in this community for the great work that they do, would be the perfect vehicle for making sure that our giving continued.”
Sally finds comfort in knowing that their money will always go to a cause that they support, even if one of their chosen charities doesn’t exist anymore. The Community Foundation will find a comparable nonprofit focused on the same cause to support.
“They have a good system for ensuring that the money that is entrusted to them is well managed,” she said.
A defining moment for the couple came about 20 years ago when they experienced the community’s charitable nature themselves. Don, a hospital administrator at St. Mary’s Medical Center, was out running when he was struck by a car. The accident left him a quadriplegic.
“This community rallied around us,” said Sally, a registered nurse. “There’s no way that we can repay everything that people did for us.”
They want to ensure others also have a chance to experience the community’s generosity.
“There are charities out there that we see that are doing a lot of great work,” he said. “We wanted to just make sure that these charities had our support forever. That’s important to us.”
