Phelps Health Foundation Philanthropy Director Discusses Year-End Giving

Paige Heitman, director of marketing at Phelps Health, talks with Marsha Wayman, CFRE, director of philanthropy at the Phelps Health Foundation, about year-end giving on the Ask the Professionals radio show.

Paige Heitman: I know a lot of people in the community already know you. You were born and raised here, but give us a brief overview of who you are, what brought you back to here -- because you were living in Colorado -- and why you love working for the Foundation.

Marsha Wayman: Thank you so much for having me here this morning, Paige. Before moving back to Rolla, I was in Colorado Springs, and I'd actually been out there for about 20 years. I dedicated my entire career to the non-profit sector, and when this opportunity to come back to my hometown came open, I decided it was time. I wanted to bring that knowledge and experience and see what I could do to contribute and give back to my community. I've been with the Foundation ever since coming back in 2016.

Paige: That's amazing. What do you love so much about working with the Phelps Health Foundation? Because like you said, you have 20-plus years of experience in non-profits.

Marsha: What draws me to the non-profit sector and the Foundation specifically is the non-profit sector is really that gap sector of our economy; we're really looking at ways that we can fill the needs in the community. I just see so much potential. We have such a great community -- a very giving community -- but we also have needs within our community. I really see a lot of growth and potential to look at some of those things that are challenging our community, and find ways to solve them -- to make our community a much better one.

Paige: I love hearing that. I think we're all going to leave this conversation today feeling really empowered and ready to go make donations. Today, specifically, we're talking about year-end giving with the Foundation. Before we dive into that, tell us a little bit about your CFRE designation.

Marsha: I'm glad you brought that up. CFRE stands for Certified Fund Raising Executive. It is a commonly recognized certification for those in the non-profit sector. It's one thing to be passionate about your mission and the cause that you support, but whether we like it or not, at the end of the day, we're actually accountable to our government. Our government is the entity that grants us our non-exempt status. Part of that CFRE designation is not only are we knowledgeable of our mission and our cause that we're serving, but we also are able to remain compliant with our government, so that we can maintain that non-profit status and so that we can continue doing what we do best -- which is serve the community.

Paige: What I get from that is you have a really high standard of ethics.

Marsha: Absolutely. I'll just throw in, sometimes we get compared to sales people. If you ever feel pressured to give a gift, that's not what we're about at all. It's really more about how we can connect a donor to their mission and their passion; we’re that liaison.

Paige: Everybody's passionate about different things. Through that relationship-building, you help discover what that is and fill that need.

Marsha: Exactly.

Paige: Why should somebody consider year-end giving as an option? Let's just dive right in.

Marsha: It's not a surprise that a lot of the contributions come in at the end of the year, and there's a couple of reasons for that. I think we see a trend, even in society where people are more focused on experiences or giving of things that they're passionate about. I know in my own family a few years ago, we started that tradition. We're all getting older. We have enough stuff, so we like to share those experiences, and we like to support causes that mean things to us.

Marsha: There's also an element to, whether we like it or not, tax season is right around the corner. We'll talk a little bit more about that. There's an opportunity to reflect on that. Is there anything that I can do in terms of my charitable giving that not only meets my passion and my desire to help those charities that I feel are important, but maybe there's some financial benefit or some tax benefit to that as well? Whether we like COVID or not, there are some benefits that have come out of COVID in terms of philanthropic giving. We'll talk about two of those because they are benefits that expire at the end of this year.

Paige: Marsha, who qualifies for year-end giving?

Marsha: That's a great question, and the answer is anyone. These can be gifts of cash; they can also be gifts of intent. We met back in October and talked about National Estate Planning Awareness Month. Maybe somebody has gone through with that and they know that they're going to be making a gift at some point after they've passed and their estate is settled. They can simply let us know with an intent form that a gift will be coming at some point in the future.

Marsha: To give you a little bit of insight into that, I had a conversation last year with an individual, and it's taken almost three years for that estate to settle. We just received notification yesterday of their gift forthcoming. Gifts are always in progress. Outright gifts, or even those gifts of intent -- and for this year in particular, what I want to talk about – [are an] opportunity that's in our guide. [For] anybody in the audience who would like a copy of [these guides], they’re free -- no strings attached, no obligations. They can just simply reach out to the Foundation and get a copy.

Marsha: We'll talk about strategy number one, which is a benefit that expires at the end of this year. This covers many, many people -- those who don't itemize [deductions on their tax returns]. Let’s say it’s Lee’s birthday, and we decide to make a donation to his birthday fundraiser through Facebook. At the end of the year, you may realize that those gifts here and there add up. For this particular deduction that expires this year…if you've given $300 -- even if you don't itemize -- you're able to take a deduction of $300. For an individual donor, that may be enough to lower your taxable income by a level. That may potentially reduce your tax liability at the end of the year. It may increase what you're getting back in terms of a refund, so that's the individual benefit for that.

Marsha: I think it makes more of an impact if we look at it from a community, or an organizational standpoint. Let's say in the community of Rolla, where we have roughly a population of 20,000, take half of that to account for children and the under-age, [that’s about] 10,000 people [who could take] advantage of that $300 deductible. That means that if 10,000 people have given $300 to their community, that's $3 million. From the hospital perspective and the Foundation perspective, we serve a six-county region. Let's take that out a little bit farther -- a region of 200,000 people. 100,000 people at a $300 donation is $30 million.

Marsha: It's not only an impact to the donor, but it is also an impact to the community. I think sometimes it's important to reiterate just how important non-profits are to their communities, so that you can participate in them. If you look at your fundraising, if you look at your receipts from Facebook and you say, “Hey, yeah, I’ve given $250 this year,” there's still time for you to make that last $50 donation.

Lee Buhr: Let me ask a question about fundraising. I'm glad we have this particular endeavor that people can donate to whatever charity they want to in relation the Foundation. Is it mandatory, though, that hospitals [the size of Phelps Health] have a foundation, or is this unique to the business?

Marsha: Most hospitals do have a foundation. We get asked that a lot. What is the role of the Foundation? We are 100% a supporting foundation of the hospital. Our Mission Fund really is the ability for the community to give to the Foundation tax-exempt. That's $300 tax-exempt revenue that the Foundation could potentially then filter through the hospital to support unfunded patient and family needs, or even those projects.

Paige: Marsha, what are some of those needs?

Marsha: The Mission Fund is our collective annual fund that supports patient needs; it also supports programs, projects and the purchase of equipment. I like to say the three Ps, because I think sometimes it's easier to remember. [There are] initiatives of the hospital that have basically been approved through a capital budget and strategic planning, but maybe they just didn't make the budget cut. We are limited; we can't necessarily do everything. We have budgets that we work with. That Mission Fund helps support any of those needs, and when I talk about patient needs, I think it's really good to drive this home. One of our number one requested needs for patients, usually when they're going through cancer or they're in part of our hospice program, is nutritional supplements. That is one of the number one things that get requested, and they're expensive. For somebody who's going through that, that could be the difference between good nutrition and not good nutrition.

Marsha: Also, transportation, and I'll give an example of a donor who made a wonderful gift last year. I asked him what prompted it, and he said, “Well, my wife was diagnosed with cancer, and I guess it just wasn't good enough that she got to do it alone. I got diagnosed with cancer as well.” They participated in our transportation program because they didn't have the energy or the desire to drive each other to their appointments. They made that gift to pay it forward to that Mission Fund.

Marsha: Transportation vehicles are another thing we go through quite frequently, as you can imagine. They're $30,000 or $40,000 a piece, so that's something else that there's always a need for. Hearing stories like that from donors really drives it home that something as simple as having nutrition and transportation, so that you can get the care that you need and you don't have to worry about that, is very impactful.

Paige: That gave me goosebumps listening to you, because often I think we see $300, and we think, ‘Oh, well, that's nothing. That's a drop in the bucket.’ But it's not collectively.

Marsha: Collectively, it is huge.

Paige: I love that. I did have another question before we move on to opportunity number two. Can you break down what you mean whenever you say itemize?

Marsha: That's on the tax forms. You can either take a standard deduction or you can itemize those items. Normally, someone who is not giving big gifts may not itemize. The nice thing about this $300 deduction is you don't need to submit anything. It's basically a line item on the front of the tax form. I'm not a tax expert. I encourage you to reach out to your accountant or your tax professional, but it's really simple. It's just a straight $300 deduction. It reduces your adjusted gross income and potentially could put you in a different category to maybe give you a little extra boost in your refund.

Paige: OK, so opportunity number two. Let's dive right into that.

Marsha: Opportunity number two is on the other end of the spectrum. For those donors who maybe have the capacity to give a little bit more, there is another benefit that expires at the end of this year. These are some of our larger donors who maybe are giving out large gifts and who have the capacity to do that until December 31 of this year. You can actually deduct the full amount of your adjusted gross income.

Marsha: Let's say, Chris and Pat are a couple who are getting married in 2022. They've been successful tech gurus in 2021, and they each earned $2 million at the end of the year. On $2 million, they're going to have to pay taxes on that income, and that could reduce what they actually bring home to say $1.2 million each. Collectively, they earned $4 million at the end of the year; collectively they would have $2.4 million. That means that $1.6 million went to taxes. Let's say Chris decides to donate 100% of her adjusted gross income from 2021 to her charity of choice.

Marsha: She is now giving $2 million to her charity of choice, and so they only bring home $1.2 million, but collectively they've been able to manage $3.2 million of their income versus the $2.4 million. The reason I gave that example is that it empowers the donor to say, “I want my $2 million to go to my charity of choice. I don't want my $1.6 million to go to taxes.” It just gives that individual a choice. This is part of the CARES Act…and that is an opportunity that does retire at the end of this year. It's a huge one, and there are people who are able to do that.

Paige: OK, so talking about large gifts, this leads me into my next question, which is perfect. If somebody is in a position to make a large cash contribution or any type of large contribution, when should they make that gift? Should it always be at the end of the year?

Marsha: It can be at any time. If [people] find [themselves] in a position where they're either able to do that [make a large contribution] or maybe they've inherited some wealth or there's a ton of scenarios in which that can transpire, I always encourage them to, number one, talk to a financial advisor and see what makes sense with them. Then, when they've made the decision of who they want to be the benefactor of that, if it happens to be Phelps Health Foundation, we'd love to sit down and talk about that strategy for them and provide them with specific opportunities or maybe initiatives [in which] that gift can make the most impact.

Paige: One of the items…I wanted to talk about is planned giving. I want to break this down a little bit more. Before we stepped in here today, we were talking about the difference between annual and legacy giving and how planned giving is part of legacy giving. So…let’s dissect it.

Marsha: Absolutely. We were talking earlier about the annual fund. Those are those immediate patient needs and those projects, programs and purchase of equipment. On the other end of the spectrum is future giving. Most legacy and estate gifts are going to happen at some point in the future when someone has passed away and their estate has been settled; they may or may not know what that actual value will be. We intend to build an endowment for the Foundation, and what that is, is basically a future fund.

Marsha: The Foundation was established in 1996...so, we're roughly 30 years old. Let's say that back in 1996, we decided we were going to ask people to make a planned gift so that 30 years in the future, we would have this fund (theoretically, everybody has passed away in those 30 years). It would only take 8,000 people -- less than 4% of our entire region’s population had we done that back in 1996. We would have had $400 million, 30 years later. What that translates into is, even at a conservative 4% distribution each year, that’s $16 million. Let's say COVID happened and we had an endowment. The hospital had needs and [hospital leaders] could say, “Foundation, we need [funds to cover] all these unplanned expenses.” We [Foundation] could say, “How much? Let’s write the check. We have $16 million to give you this year.” That's the power of future giving, so both [the annual fund and future giving] have very important purposes, but they're very different.

Paige: Have we started an Endowment Fund at Phelps Health?

Marsha: We’re just getting started. Back in October, we had our National Estate Planning Awareness Month. We're really launching this initiative, and we're really raising awareness for people in the community to know that we have the capacity to do that; if they're thinking of those types of gifts, just initiate that conversation with us.

Paige: Marsha, what's your phone number or a way that people can get a hold of you?

Marsha: They can reach me at the Foundation at (573) 458-7946, or for those who like to reach out via email, you can do that as well.

Paige: I want to talk about some big things that Phelps Health Foundation has on the horizon. I know you are really busy with lots of things going on. What are some things that you guys have planned for 2022?

Marsha: We're planning some of our events that are coming up in mid-2022. We're already planning for…our butterfly release, which will be May 21. Our annual golf tournament, which will be June 10. There are opportunities for businesses to get involved as sponsors; there's opportunities for individuals to get involved [by participating]. If they want to volunteer, reach out to us and we can certainly give them a very meaningful role in making those events happen.

Paige: One of the things you just [mentioned] brought something else to my mind -- the impact that volunteers have on a foundation. Let's talk about how important they [volunteers] are.

Marsha: In the non-profit sector, anybody who has worked as a paid professional knows that you have to do a lot with very little. Unlike a growing, for-profit organization, where you can hire people as the need increases, that doesn't usually happen in a non-profit. You rely very heavily on volunteers. Volunteer management and recruitment is critical for the non-profit sector; that need is always there.

Paige: That's one of the ways that the community can give back; they could be a volunteer with you. They don't have to be part of the Auxiliary, right? They can just call you say, “Hey Marsha, I want help.”

Marsha: They can be part of the organization and just help with events, or just even being advocates for us in the community. If somebody says, “Hi, I don't know anything about the Foundation. How would I find out about that?” Also, to answer those questions, connect with us so that we can provide good quality information. I know sometimes it's so hard to filter out what's true and what isn't, and we really need to do a better job of that.

Paige: As the director of marketing, that's one of the things that I think about for every single employee who works at Phelps Health. You represent our organization. Let's make sure that you have the right information whenever you go and talk to people; that's so important and so valuable. What are other ways that the community can get involved in giving back?

Marsha: We're going to announce soon some big changes. COVID has dispersed our team. We've been at the hospital for many, many years; then we went remote. We're going to be moving into a new location next to the hospital. We'll really have the opportunity to have some open-door meet-and-greets. I'm hoping to have a coffee club. You can come in and get updates from the Foundation, see our new house and know where to find us. I'm really looking forward to that. It's been a long wait, and it's a sign that 2022 is going to be a great year.

Paige: Marsha, you are always a wealth of knowledge. To wrap up here, today, we've been speaking with Marsha Wayman CFRE, director of philanthropy at the Phelps Health Foundation. For more information about Phelps Health, please call (573) 458-7946. Marsha also has a ton of guides about 13 strategic year-end charitable opportunities for donors. You are welcome to call her and she can make sure that you get a copy or a few copies to give to your friends. If you missed part of the show or would like to listen to it again, please visit phelpshealth.org.