Why I Founded a Non-Profit Foundation

On 03 May 2014, I founded The Enduring Charity Foundation, an IRS-approved 501c3 non-profit foundation that helps individuals, businesses, and other non-profits become Philanthropists by establishing micro-endowments and endowments. 

We believe that the endowment style of philanthropy, combined with our flexible design, nimbleness, and desire to help others create sustainable philanthropic solutions, makes our foundation well suited to be of service in many situations, such as:

• Helping an individual create a legacy for themselves and an enduring source of financial support for their favorite charity.
• Memorializing a loved one who has passed.
• Creating a vehicle of corporate philanthropy to help with tax mitigation and to create positive PR for a small business.
• Creating a perpetual source of financial security for a successful small or medium size non-profit organization.
• Helping a failing non-profit organization distribute its remaining assets in a way that can at least partially continue to provide support to its cause.
• Enabling all the benefits of being a Philanthropist, without any of the administrative hassles.

Recently, I was featured as a Guest on Steve Vick’s Non-Profit Ally podcast (click here to listen, my interview starts at about the eight minute mark).

During that interview, Steve asked me why I founded The Enduring Charity Foundation.  The below narrative is a polished version of my answer.

Why I Founded a Non-Profit Foundation

Meaning  -  I Need a Project

In addition to meeting my commitments to my family and the Army, I have to have a meaningful project to which I can devote my spare time.  Up until August 2013, my meaningful project was earning my PhD.  Once that project was complete, I enjoyed the subsequent time of not working during the early mornings and on the weekends; I honored the living room couch with my presence and let the mindlessness of 273 channels of cable wash over me while my computer collected dust.

But that lasted about five minutes (actually, a week or two), after which I began my search for my next meaningful project.

So part one of my answer is:  I need a meaningful project in my life.

Gratitude  -  Life is Good

At the same time (and most every day now), I was feeling a deep sense of gratitude for my life.  Julie and I have made a good life for ourselves:  we have each other, we have our animals, we have our health, we are surrounded by family and friends, I love my career in the Army, Julie is very happy with her lifestyle, all of our basic needs and many of our wants are met; life is good.  Similarly, from our in-depth conversations and my close relationships to them, I know that Wayne and Dave feel the same about their lives.

From this perspective comes part two of my answer:  said meaningful project must somehow reflect my sense of gratitude.

Legacy  -  I am Going to Die

Around this time, I was in the second half of my 39th year on the planet.  I guess at about forty years old, most people begin to realize their mortality:  perhaps more than half of my life is over.  What will be said about me when I am gone?  What positive and lasting impact will I have had on the world?

The two obvious answers to this legacy question include:  1) descendants (which Julie and I were/are working on), and 2) my service as a Soldier in the greatest Army ever.  These are great legacies, but I felt compelled to create something in addition to these.

So the third part of my answer is:  this meaningful project that reflects my sense of gratitude must be enduring in nature.

Entrepreneurialism  -  An Itch that I Can’t Scratch

I have always had a strong affinity for entrepreneurialism, business, and the rush that comes with doing the deal.  However, opportunities to be entrepreneurial in the Army are very scarce, and not in the scope of my designated Army occupational specialties.

Part four of my answer:  this meaningful, enduring project that reflects my sense of gratitude must be entrepreneurial in nature, so as to allow me to scratch my entrepreneurial itch.

Second Career  -  What Will I Be When I Grow Up?

I am approaching the conclusion of my Army career.  Around the time that we founded the foundation, I had about 16 years in service, which means that I had four to seven years left in the Army.  Perhaps it is a little too early, but this forthcoming major life transition already has my attention; I am not going to fully retire at 43 or 46 (probably ever, for that matter), so what will I do for my second career?

So part five of my answer is:  this meaningful, enduring project that reflects my sense of gratitude and that is entrepreneurial in nature must be able to be parlayed into my second career after my time in the Army.

Exposure to the Endowment Style of Philanthropy

Around this same time, and in conjunction with my duties as the Department Chair and Professor of Military Science at the Georgia State University Army ROTC program, I was working with Alumnae and University development staff to establish an endowment for our program.  In one year, we went from conception of the endowment, to the establishment of the Colonel Lynn B. Stull Memorial Army ROTC Endowment, with more than $26,000 endowed, which will provide more than $1,000 to the GSU Army ROTC program year in and year out, forever.

It was also about this time that I was advising my father to consider transforming my mother’s memorial scholarship from a simple spendable account (money in, money out) into an endowment.  After discussions with me and the development staff at that College, he decided to move forward, and my mother’s memory is now forever preserved by her memorial scholarship endowment.

So it was these two events that exposed me to the endowment style of philanthropy, and allowed me to understand both the mechanics of an endowment and all of the reasons why an endowment is the superior form of philanthropic giving.

It All Comes Together

So as you can imagine, the combination of all of these factors led me to the idea that my next project would consist of some sort of philanthropic pursuit.

Talking with Julie, we initially were exploring the idea of a single endowment.  But we had multiple ideas regarding what sort of charitable interests that we wanted to support; she wanted to support a charity that her father supported, we both wanted to do something with animal rights and welfare, and we both wanted to do something with military service organizations.  Additionally, when talking with other friends and family (Wayne, Dave and Debbie, J.J., and Judith), they expressed interest in joining in on a philanthropic project, but also had their own charitable interests.

Considering all of the interest in participating and the various charitable interests, creating a single endowment did not make sense.  What would we name it?  What charitable organization would keep it and administer it?

Also, would we be able to generate enough contributions to meet that charitable organization’s minimum endowment size (which usually start in the tens of thousands)?  

Also, how does sending money to an endowment kept by someone else’s charitable organization help me scratch my entrepreneurial itch, or keep me busy enough to not drive Julie crazy?

We didn’t need one single endowment; we needed a portfolio of endowments, wrapped in a non-profit of our own.  This way, we can lower the minimum endowment size to make the endowment style of philanthropy accessible to regular people (we are now calling these micro-endowments), enable everyone to pick the charitable organizations that they want their money to support, enable everyone to name their endowment, and give me something meaningful and (socially) entrepreneurial that I can be passionate about and that will keep me busy.

And it’s working.

In our first year, we formed, obtained 501c3 status from the IRS, and established seven endowments with more than $25,000 endowed.  Our first distributions to our endowment Founder’s supported charities will occur this November.

The foundation’s future is bright as well; in addition to continuing to take care of our existing endowment Founders, we are now embarking on a campaign to create awareness and educate others about our existence and cause, with the goal of attracting more endowment Founders, establishing more endowments, growing, and ultimately bringing more enduring financial support to bear in supporting our endowment Founder’s supported charities.

As always, I invite you to join us:  visit https://www.enduringcharity.orgt o learn more and make a donation to one of our existing endowments, contact me to discuss establishing an endowment of your own, or reach out to us if you are interested in volunteering.

Currently, we need a bookkeeper or CPA to help with our accounting, a CPA to audit our 2014 financials (even though this is not required by the IRS for a non-profit of our size), someone to help with social media, someone to help with website development and SEO, and as many advocates/fundraisers as want to help.

Thank You for taking the time to read this post, and as always, please do not hesitate to contact me if I can be of service.

Very Respectfully,

Josh

About The Enduring Charity Foundation

The Enduring Charity Foundation is an IRS-approved 501c3 non-profit foundation that helps individuals, businesses, and non-profits establish, maintain, and grow their own charitable endowments and micro-endowments, in order to provide an enduring source of financial support for those charities that they care about.

Our vision is to develop and grow into a multi-million dollar non-profit foundation that will provide hundreds of thousands of dollars each year - year in and year out, forever - to designated charitable organizations.

In conjunction with its mission and operations, The Enduring Charity Foundation maintains three core values:  1) charity - support worthy and deserving charitable organizations; 2) perpetuity - create an enduring source of support through an endowment model; and 3) trust - conduct all activities and operations in a manner that honors the trust of our endowment Founders, Donors, and their designated charities.

Learn more and get involved at https://www.enduringcharity.org

About the Author

Josh Brooks, PhD is the founder and president of The Enduring Charity Foundation.  Josh’s full-time career is as an active duty aviation officer in the U.S. Army, with more than 17 years of service.

A deep sense of gratitude for all of the blessings in his life, combined with his desire to get involved in philanthropy, led Josh to found The Enduring Charity Foundation with his wife Julie, war buddy Wayne, and brother Dave.

Josh intends to apply the values that he learned in the Army - duty, integrity, and selfless service - in leading The Enduring Charity Foundation.

You can learn more about and connect with Josh by viewing his LinkedIn profile here.