Caring Relationships - Gundersen Health System

Don shares a memory of Betty
Ann with Robyn Tanke, CFRE,
senior director of development
of Gundersen Lutheran Medical
Foundation. “Betty Ann would be so
delighted with what Don has done.”
To learn more about the
benefits of charitable gift
annuities, visit gundluth.org/
foundation and read the four
easy steps every donor should
consider. Creating a CGA can
be a highly effective strategy
for supporting the work of
Gundersen Lutheran Medical
Foundation while realizing
your own philanthropic goals
and objectives.
Together, they were strong
supporters of the Shriners, of which
Don is a longtime member. For years
they traveled throughout the United
States and Canada where Don
performed with the Zor Oriental
Band, raising funds for Shriners
Hospitals for Crippled Children
and Shriners Burn Centers of North
America. By 1994, Don and Betty
Ann’s charitable interests included
Gundersen Lutheran Medical
Foundation. “Betty Ann saw it as
a good organization that helps a
lot of people,” recalls Don. “We’d
always been givers to different
organizations, but she thought more
of the Foundation than anything.”
The MacPhetridge’s high regard
for the work of the Foundation is
evident in their remarkable giving
history. Over the course of nearly 15
years, they made over 200 separate
gifts—approximately 13 each
year, or a gift a month. Many have
been in the form of memorials for
friends and loved ones, or in honor
of a special physician or caregiver.
Their annual Heritage gifts were
frequently designated for a cause
they cared deeply about: research,
specifically cancer research; hospice
care; and the Paula’s Purse fund that
assists cancer patients. Betty Ann’s
eight-year battle with breast cancer
and Don’s own cancer diagnosis
increased their awareness of the
disease and their commitment to
help others fight it by advancing the
Foundation’s efforts.
Earlier this year, Don began
discussions with Robyn Tanke,
senior director of development,
regarding a major gift in Betty
Ann’s memory. He wanted to give
something back in gratitude to the
hospice program that had provided
such extraordinary care at the end of
Betty Ann’s life. In addition, Don’s
greatest wish was to see Betty Ann
recognized as the person who had
inspired him, and so many others,
through her lifelong gift for giving.
With Don’s input, Robyn developed
the framework for a charitable gift
annuity (CGA) that would allow
him to transfer stock as a gift to
Gundersen Lutheran Medical
Foundation, and receive in return
a fixed annual payment for the
remainder of his life.
The CGA plan appealed to Don
for a number of reasons. The rate of
return was far more favorable than
current interest rates on CDs, and
receiving a guaranteed life income
was also attractive. But by far the
deciding factor was knowing how
much it would have pleased Betty
Ann. “I feel great to be honoring
one of her last requests—and that is
to continue to help the Foundation.
If I’m helping somebody, that’s all
I care about,” says Don. Having
known Betty Ann personally,
Robyn agrees that “she would be so
delighted with what Don has done.
She was as exuberant as she was
giving. It really is a win-win.”
Helping and comforting others
was Betty Ann MacPhetridge’s
essential nature. Don smiles at a
memory of her from the day before
she passed away when, despite
being in pain and confined to a
wheelchair, she took such joy in
playing Christmas songs on the
piano at the nursing home to lift
everyone’s holiday spirits. That was
his Betty Ann.
4 www.gundluth.org/foundation