Endowed Financial Aid Fund Honors Classmates who Remain Friends More Than 50 Years Later
Colby College is pleased to accept a $100,000 gift from Leslie Anderson ’71 and her husband Dan Nygaard to establish the Highland Lake Fund, an endowed financial aid fund named in honor of Colby classmates who remain friends today.
Colby College is pleased to accept a $100,000 gift from Leslie Anderson ’71 and her husband Dan Nygaard to establish the Highland Lake Fund, an endowed financial aid fund named in honor of Colby classmates who remain friends today.
“I made lifelong friendships at Colby, and I hope this fund will help students do the same today,” she said.
An English major with a minor in French, Anderson has made a career in nonprofit development, high tech, and fine art. She has always donated money to Colby, and as she prepared for her 50th reunion, she and her husband decided to explore a larger gift.
For tax purposes and to maximize opportunities for charitable giving, the couple’s financial advisor told them they could distribute a portion of their mandatory withdrawals from their IRAs directly to Colby and other organizations they want to support. Working with Colby Advancement, Anderson arranged a $100,000 gift over five years.
“What I want to stress is that we are not rich. We are comfortable and we live simply and frugally, and we find ourselves with more money than we need to live for the rest of our lives,” said Anderson, noting that she and her husband do not have children. “Our very good financial advisor said, ‘If you want to maximize your charitable giving, have your IRA distributions go directly to the organizations you want to support.’ So that’s what we did.”
An individual’s IRA, 401(k), 403(b), or other qualified retirement plans can provide a tax-smart way to make an impact on Colby. The qualified charitable distribution, which is sometimes called an IRA charitable rollover, is a great way to make a tax-free gift to Colby, said Director of Leadership and Planned Giving Valerie Sherman.
A gift of retirement plan assets could be right for individuals who, like Anderson and her husband, do not expect to need all their assets, or for those who have other assets, such as real estate or securities, to pass on to heirs and loved ones, Sherman said.
“IRA accounts are ideal for making gifts to Colby and other favorite causes because the assets will be taxed if given to living heirs,” Sherman said. “Donors can make a qualified charitable distribution from their IRA accounts or can include Colby as a beneficiary of the account, transferring the assets to Colby tax-free.”
Additional details about making a qualified charitable distribution, helpful forms for working with plan administrators, and other information about gift planning related to retirement assets are available here.
Already, Anderson has received thank you messages from students who have benefited from the endowment. She said she was “incredibly gratified” to learn of the direct impact of her gift. “When those students call, it’s magic to be able to chat with them and find out what their major is and tell them a little about what Colby meant to me.”
For Anderson, Colby meant equipping her with the tools and confidence to forge a successful career in a variety of fields that continues today. “Colby taught me how to learn and how to adapt to the changing job market,” said Anderson, a fine-art painter with a studio in Sedgwick, Maine. “And it also taught me about the importance of lifelong friendships.”
Top photo: Leslie Anderson and her friends at their 45th reunion in 2016. Front row, from left: Mary Jukes Howard, Debbie Messer Zlatin, Leslie Anderson; back row, from left: Karen Hoerner Neel, Pat Trow Parent, and Jan Blatchford Gordon.
Lower image: “Last Night at the Lake,” 2010 painting by Leslie Anderson featuring three members of Anderson’s Colby friend group in their favorite sunset-watching spot on Highland Lake.