This past year, Nebraska Community Foundation updated its Transfer of Wealth study. This is the third time NCF has conducted the study, doing it for the first time in 2002, following up in 2011. The studies continue to show that Nebraska has wealth and has wealth to give. 

But that retaining that wealth is not a guarantee.

What is Transfer of Wealth? It’s a nice euphemism to say that someone has died and their money and assets has passed onto someone else, usually the next generation. 

But it also involves the impact that transfer has on a community. Once wealth leaves a community, it is gone forever. But if it is retained and endowed in a community, it stays and benefits a community forever.

So why is it important to acknowledge the Transfer of Wealth? Because it is vital to leave some if not all of the wealth where it was made and accumulated to ensure the future of a community. 

One of the most poignant stories I have heard to explain the impact Transfer of Wealth has on a community is about a person who dies with has no local relatives. 

The condolences are said. The funeral is held. And the next day, the out-of-town heirs stop by the bank to close out the accounts, taking those assets with them. These are assets which will likely leave the community forever, never to return, never to benefit the people who helped build that wealth. 

While those assets may have belonged to that one person, that wealth was accumulated with the help of the entire community, whether it was the employees in the company or the customers of the business. 

And the community where the business was located helped make the business successful. The community helped raise that person’s family. The community contributed toward a good quality of life over the years.

Leaving assets in a community when a person passes is a way of thanking the community for what they have been given during their lifetime. It is a way of ensuring that those employees and those customers continue to have a good quality of life for generations to come.

NCF has launched a new campaign called “Five to Thrive.” It is simply asking people to consider leaving just five percent of their assets to their community when they pass. The rightful heirs still receive the majority of the assets, but a small percentage is retained in the community to benefit future generations. 

While five percent doesn’t seem like much, it does add up. In just Southwest Nebraska, the study predicts that $4.7 billion will transfer over the next 10 years. Just five percent of that amount means millions for our communities.

But it doesn’t have to be five percent. Any donation back to the community, large and small, will ensure that our towns will continue to grow and thrive.

And the donation doesn’t have to be to NCF or the McCook Community Foundation Fund, which is an affiliated fund of NCF. 

A donation to any of the local entities, whether it is Hillcrest, Community Hospital, the YMCA - whatever a person feels is important - will ultimately benefit the entire community for generations to come.

That is what we are ultimately talking about here, making sure our community both exists and thrives for our kids, for our grandkids, for their grandkids. 

MCFF, along with many foundations, use a tree in their logo. Why? Because they follow the Greek proverb: A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they shall never sit. 

Using the information from the Transfer of Wealth to leave just a portion of our assets to our community is like planting a tree. We are planning ahead, knowing that we will not benefit from our donation but realizing that others will bear fruit from our generosity. 

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For more information about Five to Thrive or the Transfer of Wealth study, visit www.fivetothrive.org and learn about Red Willow County as well as all of Nebraska.