The Community Foundation of Broward recently honored its Legacy Society members at an annual celebration of their commitment to philanthropy through estate gifts.
During the luncheon at the Broward Center for Performing Arts, the dozens of Legacy Society members in attendance were asked to stand as Community Foundation President and CEO Linda Carter thanked all Legacy Society members for their support of local philanthropy.
There are 154 members of the Foundation’s Legacy Society who have agreed to make local philanthropy part of their estate planning. Thanks to them, there are $288 million in committed gifts to fuel future help for Broward’s biggest challenges.
“These individuals are forward-thinking visionaries,” Community Foundation President and CEO Linda Carter said. “They are actively controlling the destiny of our community.”
Estate gifts account for more than half of the Foundation’s grantmaking.
This year’s Legacy Society Luncheon showcased how estate gifts support the arts – prioritized as one of the 10 issues that matter most to Broward’s future.
The Foundation’s Art of Community initiative supports philanthropy that uses the arts to ignite creativity, invoke community pride and connect people to where they live and to each other.
Recent Art of Community projects with support from estate gifts include new murals that transformed and enlivened the Broward Center parking garage, the Hugh Taylor Birch State Park beach-access tunnel and the Mockingbird Trail urban art walk in Flagler Village.
“Art brings people together. It creates community,” said National Public Radio correspondent Susan Stamberg, the guest speaker at the Legacy Society Luncheon. “Art has the power to heal.”
The healing power of the arts has been a vital part of Broward’s recovery from the school shooting in Parkland, Foundation Board member Jarett Levan told Legacy Society Luncheon attendees.
After a gunman killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the Foundation supported art therapy for students, teachers, parents and others in the community. The Healing with Art program at the Coral Springs Museum of Arts has helped people cope with their emotions and anxieties through sketching, painting and producing other works of art.
Likewise, the new MSD Portrait Project at the museum – also supported by the Foundation – will create an outlet for those affected by the shooting to reflect and remember. Recorded interviews and photos of people touched by the tragedy will help tell the story. The interactive exhibit will allow other community members to contribute their own stories to help with the healing.
“We remember this tragedy. We think about those who are lost and we bring the community together,” Levan said. “It’s the power of the arts that helps us heal. It’s the power of the arts that brings us together.”
To learn how you can use an estate gift to support the arts and tackle other issues that matter to Broward, contact Vice President of Philanthropic Services Nancy Thies at nthies@cfbroward.org or 954-761-9503.
