Page 40 - Newsletter_Winter_2020

Planned Giving -

"If Not Now, When?"

By Jon A. McLaughlin ’73 • Fundraising Co-Chair

As you know, all of the Association’s funds are endowed with the Maine
Community Foundation. They are the experts in not only investing our
funds to get the best returns to perpetuate the work of the HHSAA, but
they also will offer assistance to your personal estate planners to pick a program of giving that works best for you.

We certainly hope that the Houlton High School Alumni Association will be part of your estate planning. The Maine
Community Foundation in its Fall 2020 periodical had an interesting article that we thought worthy of re-printing in part to
the readers of the North Star News.

Brunswick Attorney at law, Edgar S. Catlin, III, reflects on the increased attention to planned giving during the pandemic.

MaineCF: How did you first become familiar with the Maine Community Foundation?

Edgar Catlin: I first heard of MaineCF in the 1990s through a client. I was retained to review an estate plan focused on
MaineCF. I'm embarrassed to admit I wasn't familiar with the foundation at that time; this was before "Google" was a verb or
available as a search engine. I fumbled around online, became educated about MaineCF, and was impressed by what I read.

MaineCF: When did you think about the community foundation as an option for your clients?

Catlin: I first contacted MaineCF for my own purposes.
In the early 2000s I was working with a group to establish
a 501(c)(3) to provide camperships for deserving campers "How do you think planned
otherwise unable to attend the Maine summer camp I had giving reflects this moment?"
attended as a kid. That effort was frustrated by a number of
factors, so I turned to MaineCF.

To be a successful fund and attract donors, I knew it had to be bullet-proof from the perspective of the IRS. MaineCF's
participation, and its due diligence that preceded its involvement, assured that that would be the case. That experience, in my
dual capacity of donor and advisor, convinced me that MaineCF was the preferred option for a client with a charitable focus.

MaineCF: The pandemic has caused many people to think about what is important to them and their
own mortality. How do you think planned giving reflects this moment?

Catlin: Many of my colleagues report a significant increase in estate planning since March. In my own practice, I am
experiencing the same.

I think that like all other things that we put off in life, those who have considered a charitable component for their estate plan
are thinking these days, "If not now, when?" Planned giving can easily be a can that gets kicked down the road. I think that
people who have had a planned giving intent, but who have not yet implemented it in their estate plan, are now feeling more
inclined to formalize their planned giving.

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