Published November 9, 2005 in the Bloomfield Democrat

New foundation is a vehicle to help retain local wealth and repay the community.

It's great that the Davis County Community Foundation is organized and up and running. It's great that more than $63,600 has come from the State of Iowa creating grants in 2006 that can help worthy local projects and organizations.

While the state money is a start, a foundation needs much more support to enable it to grow an endowment that produces annual income resulting meaningful grants.

For those unfamiliar with foundations, the key is the endowment. It must be built so that investments return income to be used for grants and programs. An endowment must grow and then be guarded so that we have a perpetually and growing source of money to help the community. There’s a variety of vehicles available to build an endowment, but all of them require contributions from individuals and the farms and businesses they own.

Rural Iowa is at a financial crossroads. There is, even in Davis County, a considerable amount of wealth held by those who have lived and worked here all of their lives. They have profited and prospered from Davis County. They owe their financial wealth to the county and what it has provided them during their lifetimes.

Decades ago, this wealth passed from one generation to another with most of it remaining in the county. Now, however, many of the heirs of local people live across the nation instead of down the road. When the wealth passes, it will leave the county forever. No one expects an older generation to cut their heirs from their estates. However, Davis Countyans should give serious thought to including the community in their estate planning. With the Davis County Community Foundation, there is now a way to do that.