Philanthropy Stories

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• Featured Designated Fund: Kathrina B. Powell Fund

  

  Laverne Powell Winn lives in California but fondly remembers her childhood in Norfolk. One of her most vivid memories is walking with her mother, Kathrina Powell, to the Van Wyck Library in the Ghent neighborhood. For the Powell family going to the public library was like going to church -- it happened once a week. In 2006 Winn created a designated fund to support Norfolk’s branch libraries and named the fund for her late mother, Kathrina – a woman who would rather read than watch TV. Each year grants go to the city library to benefit its neighborhood branches in tribute to Laverne's mom.

• Featured Field-of-interest Fund: William A. and Jane M. Charters Fund

  

  Jane Charters knew she wanted to build up people and not build buildings. That is why this retired federal administrative assistant from Norfolk left a $6 million bequest to create a field-of-interest fund for basic human needs in Hampton Roads. The William A. and Jane M. Charters Fund started in 2004 after Jane passed away. Her husband Bill was a businessman raised by a single mother. He endured a fire as a child that destroyed all his family's possessions and never attended college since he had no funds to do that. Before his 1982 death he started several companies, including one that originated the idea of home mortgages in the region in the 1920s. Both Jane and Bill both loved their community and enjoyed helping others have better lives.
  
  Since 2004 the Charters fund has provided millions of dollars in grants to help some of our region's most vulnerable citizens get back on their feet. Grant recipients include nonprofits like Judeo-Christian Outreach Center, Samaritan House, Chesapeake Care and HER Inc.

• Featured Donor-advised Fund: Robert Nusbaum and Linda Laibstain Fund

  

  Attorneys Bob Nusbaum and Linda Laibstain grew up in Hampton Roads in families that valued community service and generosity. The Norfolk couple who work with Williams Mullen PC created a donor-advised fund at the Hampton Roads Community Foundation in 2014. They wanted the flexibility to recommend grants to specific nonprofits whose work resonates with them.
  
  Both Linda and Bob been involved in organizations that include the Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia and the Eastern Shore, Sugar Plum Bakery, the Hermitage Museum and Foundation, Norfolk State University, Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Virginia, YWCA of South Hampton Roads and Virginia Wesleyan College. They like being active philanthropists able to recommend grants to an array of nonprofits.
  
  "Working in estate planning and administration I saw the virtues of having a family fund," Bob Nusbaum says. "We know our money will be well taken care of over the years."

• Featured Organizational Fund: Hope House Foundation Fund

  

  In 1964 a group of Hampton Roads parents with adult children with disabilities created the Hope House Foundation to give them caring, supportive places to live. Over the decades Hope House has specialized in providing homes and services that enable Hampton Roads adults to live as independently as possible in inclusive communities. It owns small apartment buildings where clients with disabilities live as neighbors with a mix of people.
  
  In 2002 Hope House created a community foundation endowment to provide "for the long-term financial health of the organization," says Lynn Seagle, Hope House president. Over the years the original $100,000 donated to start the endowment has been enhanced by donors to Hope House. Each year the Hope House Foundation has the option to take a distribution of 4.5% of the balance over 12 trailing quarters or to let funds grow even larger.
  
  In 2015 when a donor left a $500,000 bequest to Hope House, the organization knew exactly what to do with it -- add it to its endowment -- to help it grow and be able to help more people in the future.

• Margot Barnhardt: Creator of four endowed funds

  

  Margot Barnhardt fondly recalls the 30 years she lived in Hampton Roads. She grew up in Pittsburgh, lived in various cities and retired to North Carolina but partnered with the Hampton Roads Community Foundation to create four permanent, endowed funds to benefit the region she calls home.

  "I like what you do and that you cover a broad area," says Margot, a retired nurse. "There is nothing to compare with that."

  In 2004 Margot surprised the community foundation staff when she popped by to deliver a $10,000 check. After she did the same the following year, a conversation with staff members convinced her to start her own endowed fund. She did that in 2005 by donating enough to create the unrestricted E.C. Barnhardt III Memorial Fund in memory of her husband and the Virginia Dietrich Williams Fund for Women and Children, a field-of-interest fund that honors her friend from Norfolk.

  In 2013 Margot started two more funds in memory of two of her children. The Diane Reilly Hartzog Memorial Scholarship Fund helps send to college students interested in library science or English -- fields Hartzog studied. The William Thomas Reilly III Fund is a field-of-interest fund that provides grants to environmental organizations her son would be pleased to support.

  "I like sharing what I have with others," Margot says. "It's fun."

• Community Fund for Arts and Culture supporter

  

  Trisha Rawls of Norfolk donates to the Community Fund for Arts and Culture to help a variety of nonprofits bring music, theater, art and dance to Hampton Roads. As chair of the Norfolk Arts Commission, Trisha is passionate about giving area citizens access to all kinds of arts and culture.

  Trisha retired a few years ago as founding executive director of the Business Consortium for Arts Support, which provides annual operating support to 33 groups in South Hampton Roads. The Consortium benefits each year from Community Fund for Arts and Culture grants provided by donors like her who value the impact the arts have on area residents.

  "If I can add to the arts a little each year through the Community Fund for Arts and Culture, then I feel really good," Trisha says.