Scholarship fund and estate planning leaves lasting impact in honour of beloved Executive Director Keith Taylor
Keith Taylor worked tirelessly with Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) Cambridge for many years, helping to give kids a brighter future. Though the organization’s former Executive Director and long-time volunteer passed away at age 53 in October of 2004, following a pancreatic cancer diagnosis, Taylor’s legacy lives on in that same spirit.
It’s thanks in large part to the Keith Taylor Big Brother Big Sister Scholarship Fund.
“We had a celebration of life for Keith, in August of that year,” explained Jean Taylor, noting about 400 people attended the special event, which was viewed as “probably one of his last really good days.”
Upon Keith’s passing – three months and three days after receiving his cancer diagnosis – Brent said people wanted to know how they could best honour him.
Jean and her husband Brent, Keith’s brother, connected with Waterloo Region Community Foundation (Cambridge & North Dumfries Community Foundation at the time) and the scholarship fund was established that same year.
‘Little Sisters’ and ‘Little Brothers’ have benefitted ever since. The fund aims to help youth-aged children with the next steps toward gaining a career.
“It could be anything from helping them with tuition, or it could be, say you want to be a welder and you need tools, or a hairdresser, you want to go to hairdressing school and buy equipment,” Jean explained. “It’s for anything to advance your career so that they can move forward.”
Jean and Brent estimate the lives of some 25 to 30 young lives have been directly impacted since the creation of the fund. “Big Brothers Big Sisters was really important to him,” Jean said of her brother-in-law.
Added Brent of the fund: “It is sort of neat that he'll be remembered forever. If you didn't have something like this, people tend to forget who looked after things in the past.”
The Scholarship Fund will continue to pave a brighter path for ‘Littles’ thanks to some added help. Jean and Brent Taylor recently confirmed a gift in their will for the fund, which is aligned with another aspect of Waterloo Region Community Foundation (WRCF)’s work. WRCF has partnered with Will Power (willpower.ca) to encourage people to consider supporting charities in their will. The process of giving to charity in this way can be quite simple, and the bequest can truly be life changing.
“We have 13 nieces and nephews and no children. There’s just the two of us,” Jean said. “Our nieces and nephews, when they were much younger, were the beneficiaries, but as they got older, they became well-established. A gift from us isn’t going to have an impact on their lives. We made arrangements that (much of) the estate, when the time comes, will go to WRCF for this fund. That way it will give it the longevity that we believe it needs to continue perpetually.”
Jean and Brent Taylor encourage anyone who might be positioned to leave a gift in their will to charity to consider doing so.“We all have causes that are close to us. If you don’t, it’s a real opportunity to look for something that you believe in and use this opportunity to repay the community,” Jean said.
As for what Keith Taylor would think of the fund and his family’s generosity?
“Oh, he'd probably just cry,” Brent said.
“And I think he'd be pretty pleased,” added Jean.
How to set up a bequest
The process for setting up a bequest is very straightforward. WRCF works with you to set up the fund agreement, which references that the fund will become active via a gift from the Will. Then, in your Will, you list WRCF as receiving a bequest. Fundholders can choose from a variety of types of funds. When WRCF receives the money via the estate, the fund becomes operational.
It’s important to note that future Fundholders can update their fund agreements with WRCF as many times as they’d like in their lifetime (at no cost). Regardless of any changes to the fund agreement, there is no need to subsequently update their Wills, as the Will just indicates that the bequest will be sent to WRCF; it is the fund agreement with WRCF that dictates what happens when the donation from the estate is received.
If you are an existing Fundholder and are looking to add to your fund through a bequest or any other type of planned gift, we are happy to work through those details with you.
For more information about setting up a bequest and to ensure that you have the proper wording for your Will, contact Dan Robert at dan@wrcf.ca or 519-725-1806 x 205.