Mildred Beckstrom
In honor of NMF's upcoming 30th anniversary and National Philanthropy Month, we want to celebrate the contributions of our donors! We will be highlighting a donor a day for the month of November.
Please be sure to check the blog often to read about the wonderful stories of giving back to the northwest region.
 |
| Mildred Beckstrom, Fosston |
Making a difference for our rural communities is something many of us dream about and some accomplish with a big impact. Mildred Beckstrom did just that with her estate plan, which included a gift of real estate to benefit the First Care Medical Services Foundation Endowment Fund and the Fosston Education Foundation Endowment Fund. Following Beckstrom’s wishes, each fund received half of the proceeds from the sale of her home in Fosston.
Beckstrom spent her entire life living in Fosston. She worked at Farmers State Bank until retirement in 1986. She was an active member of Poplar Lake Lutheran Church, rural Fosston. And although she never married or had any children of her own, she was especially close to her goddaughter, Pamela Kelsey. “She was very much a lady -- very prim and proper,” said Kelsey. “Her philanthropic views were deeply ingrained in her, but she was never boastful.” In fact, Beckstrom had many philanthropic organizations close to her heart. In addition to her community, she supported several girls’ homes, the Salvation Army, and her church.
"Mildred was one of the most faithful church members I've known, certainly in the tireless way she served her Lord with her time and talents," said Poplar Lake's pastor, John Anderson. "And we had no idea Mildred was giving such a significant financial gift to the church. Mildred's life was an outstanding example of faithful Christian stewardship."
The key to estate planning is– planning. Beckstrom chose to meet her charitable goals by completing a transfer-on-death (TODD) deed for her home with the assistance of her attorney. The advantage to using a TODD is the property is not included in the estate. Therefore, legal costs are avoided and more money is left to the charity of choice.
At Mildred’s passing the property transferred to the Northwest Minnesota Foundation to be sold so funds could be disbursed to the areas she specified in her will.
The Education portion of the donation has been used to establish the Mildred Beckstrom Memorial Scholarship Fund, which will provide funding for post secondary education for Fosston’s youth. Because the Education Foundation Fund is associated with the Fosston Area Community Fund, a ten-percent matching gift from the Northwest Minnesota Foundation (NMF) will help to fund projects, activities and special programs that benefit the community through the Community Fund.
The First Care donation will support projects or services that assist the mission and long-term stability of First Care Medical Services and other charitable healthcare services in the Fosston area.
“We on the First Care Foundation board encourage everyone to follow Mildred’s lead by passing on a portion of your estate to those organizations that you feel can best serve in making our community a better place to live and work,” said Board Chair Mark Finstad. “This gift will live on, helping to maintain quality and accessible healthcare for generations of area residents in the years to come.”
Comments
Post a Comment