Heritage Club Story: Whitney Evans
When Whitney Evans moved to Sonoma Valley thirty years ago, he brought something with him that Boys & Girls Clubs of Sonoma Valley would soon put to good use: experience running capital campaigns. It wasn’t long before the Club asked him to lead Dream Builders, the campaign that built the clubhouse still in use today.
“Volunteered to be the campaign director of the capital campaign to build the Maxwell Clubhouse since I was a new resident and I had capital campaign experience,” Whitney says. He led the effort alongside co-chairs Bob Stone and Jeff Panchot. “It was a wonderful introduction to the key Valley leadership,” he says. “Both became good friends.”
That campaign was the start of a long relationship with the Club. Whitney went on to serve on the BGCSV board of directors, and in 2002 Whitney and his late wife Jeanette were honored as the year’s Sweethearts. What stayed with him most, he says, was “the dedication of the Board’s leadership.”
Whitney has spent much of his time in Sonoma Valley thinking about how to make community giving go further. In 2007, he became the founding president of the Sonoma Valley Fund. “As a founder of the Sonoma Valley Found, an endowment to support our future leaders was a given,” he says. That same instinct carried over into his own planning: with the Club’s capital campaign behind him, he says, “the need for an endowed fund was clear.”
Whitney’s approach to giving leans on a strategy he’s used across his philanthropy: donor-advised funds built with appreciated securities. “Donor-Advised Funds were the major focus,” he says. “With many securities having price gains, the gifting of appreciated stock made the original gift cost and no capital gains from the stock gift a very good investment in our community.” In practice, that means gifting stock that has grown in value, rather than cash, so more of the gift’s worth reaches the causes he cares about and less is lost to capital gains tax.
He’s designated his BGCSV gift specifically to scholarships. “Scholarships have been the main designated use of the funds,” he says. “Invest in our future leaders.”
Asked how it feels to have made the commitment, Whitney doesn’t hesitate: “Satisfied.” Part of that satisfaction, he says, comes from the company he’s found along the way. “Joining others with similar beliefs was a plus.”
His advice for anyone considering their own legacy gift? Talk to the people who know your finances best. “Discuss best strategies with your financial advisors,” Whitney says, before making any decisions about how a gift is structured. It’s the same approach that shaped his own giving: understanding which assets, like appreciated stock, can make a gift go further for both the donor and the cause.
Whitney has now called Sonoma Valley home, and supported the Club, for thirty years. “The generosity of the community,” he says, “has been an inspiration.”
If Whitney’s story resonates with you, we’d love to talk about what a Heritage Club gift could look like for you. Reach out to Michael Irvine at [email protected] or 707.938.8544, or visit bgcsonoma.org/planned-giving to learn more.