JAVS Spring 2024

Development Corner LET’S TALK ABOUT LEGACY: Our Honored Seniors by Tom Tatton

Here are some “Smart Ideas”:

Violists are smart people and we most often make smart financial moves. So, Finance and Development Committee members figure our seniors have a will in place and—perhaps—a trust. 1 Other important documents to consider include a Medical Directive and Power of Attorney for healthcare and a financial Power of Attorney. Here we want to concentrate on your legacy. Much of your legacy is already set and continues to evolve and glow through your children and their children. Your students surely carry your “stamp” as well as the organizations you supported, helped nourish, and influenced—whether it is the youth symphony you coached or even your child’s soccer team. These are the types of passions you embraced during your lifetime. The organizations and more importantly the people who were or are members of these organizations are affected and continue to be affected by your smile, your style, and your personality. So, it may be time to tally up your legacy in the privacy of your own heart. You may never know exactly how many lives you have touched, but taking a measure is always a good idea. More pointedly for the AVS and for your legacy we have talked in The Development Corner about opportunities to give a little extra at enrollment time, the RMD situation, organizing Giving Circles, creating a Donor Advised Fund, and the benefits of donating appreciated investments. 2 We have also talked about our shared responsibility to give back; the stewardship of our AVS, if you will. As you are nearing retirement or perhaps already retired from your main gig you think of what to do next and think— “What now?” 3

• We talked about your instrument(s): in addition to your Alma Mater and the Viola Bank already mentioned perhaps you might want to think about your favorite students. Having a former student using your prized viola well into the future is a wonderful legacy. But so is providing a youthful violist, who otherwise could not afford such a fine instrument, a chance to blossom by donating your instrument to our AVS Viola Bank. 4 That legacy can affect multiple violists well into the future. • How about your library? Do you have some hard-to find pieces, perhaps some manuscripts or autographed music, programs or other valuable memorabilia? The Primrose library at BYU might be interested.5 As for your standard repertoire, even gently used, could find a valuable home with a younger teacher, perhaps one of your former students. One of our committee members put some 200 pieces up for sale at a viola gathering. The proceeds were simply donated to the organization that put on the event. Since it was a 501(c)(3) organization, the proceeds were a small tax deduction for our senior. 6 Everybody won—the viola organization, the person who bought the music, and our senior. Let’s talk about one more item, your life insurance policy, if you have one. Many people come to a point where they wish they could do more for the charities they nourished and supported throughout their lives. A life insurance policy, which was essential during the early years but maybe of less importance now, can be an effective and easy way to give that little extra support, perhaps a lot more support. The wonderful thing is that all of this is your choice!

50

Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 40, No. 1, Spring 2024