When Neil and Rose McConnell met with former Community Foundation President & CEO Brad Sell in 2015, they knew that because of their history of giving, creating a fund was a natural next step. Their plan quickly developed into giving a certain amount each year to a handful of charities that might not typically receive a lot of funding. Having grown from an initial investment of $15,000, the McConnell Family Community Endowment Fund has made countless distributions over the years as that number climbed.

“When we first got married, we couldn’t write a check. We didn’t even have the added 10 cents it cost to do so. Somehow, our dear Lord has looked out for us, and allowed us to be able to afford that 10 cents, and much more. We have adopted the choice of this style of giving, among others. We’ve opened up a door of giving. We have the need and we can make the choice to help,” said Neil.

The McConnells have gone on to create additional annuity funds within the Community Foundation of Washington County, in an interest to maximize the level of impact on non-profit / religious organizations in Washington County for generations to come.

“Our hope is that the overhead costs reduce as the investments continue to grow, so that the right hand doesn’t take away from the left hand, so to speak, and for our fund to continue to change lives long after we are gone, with the help of the Foundation staff,” continued Neil.

“Every organization needs money, so there’s a question of ‘ are our funds getting enough bang for their buck?’ and [the Community Foundation staff] monitor yours to ensure that as much as possible. That comfortable feeling does a lot for us.”