Isaiah M. Oliver
President, The Community Foundation
Editor’s Note: This piece originally ran as a Viewpoint in the Jacksonville Business Journal.
Last month, I drove an hour south of Jacksonville on two-lane county roads to see an innovative educational program at Interlachen High School in Putnam County.
In a new lab, high school students were making Christmas tree yard decorations out of two-by-fours. They are learning carpentry skills for in-demand, high-paying careers in the building construction industry. It’s a ticket to a better future – no college degree required.
The program was made possible by a philanthropist who passed away 15 years ago, but whose legacy lives on through these students.
Frank V. Oliver was a Palatka businessman who ran a tugboat and barge company on the St. Johns River. A graduate of the University of Florida, he also owned the most famous restaurant in town: Gator Landing. He was philanthropic throughout his life and in his estate. Working with his attorney, he created an endowed fund at The Community Foundation in his name. It was this fund that has helped bring building construction training to Putnam County Schools through a total of $300,000 in grants.
Mr. Oliver’s generosity and foresight were exceptional.
The opportunity for legacy giving is more common than you may think.
Right now, we are living through the largest transfer of wealth in history. Over the next 50 years, an estimated $791 billion of wealth will transfer, according to research by Locus Investing on behalf of the Florida Philanthropic Network. The baby boomer generation has built more wealth than any before them, much of it squirreled away in retirement investment accounts. Over the next few decades, they’ll be deciding how many of their assets will go to their children, to charity, or to Uncle Sam.
The transfer of wealth presents a unique opportunity for our community to develop a sustainable source of support for treasured community charities – schools, hospitals, arts and culture, local parks, human services, and more.
Consider this: If only 5 percent of this wealth is captured in endowments, it could generate an estimated $1.9 billion in annual grants to local nonprofits. That’s roughly two-thirds of the annual budget of the entire Duval County public school district. Imagine the kind of community we could have with such plentiful philanthropic resources.
This year, many of our local nonprofits have faced sudden funding loss. Endowments provide reliable, flexible funding to help nonprofits sustain their important programs through the ebbs and flows of other funding.
Yet endowed philanthropy in Florida is still catching up to the industrial states of the North, such as Michigan, where I previously led the Community Foundation of Greater Flint. There, endowments sourced from the historic fortunes of C.S. Mott, Henry Ford and others have been growing for nearly a century – to the benefit of people in those communities.
Frank Oliver’s story reminds us that philanthropy isn’t exclusive to billionaires, and that endowment isn’t only for elite higher education institutions. Many people have more to give than they realize, and philanthropy benefits us all.
The transfer of wealth is our chance to follow Mr. Oliver’s example and build even greater financial support for our community’s future.
Learn more about legacy giving.