By Cari Kimball
Happy Summer, friends! I hope you’re finding ways to enjoy these long daylight hours. Isn’t July in Montana dreamy?
A couple weekends ago, my family joined friends for a camping trip in the Big Belt mountains. We watched our kids collect lichen-covered sticks and admired fairy slipper orchids, later spotting a red-naped sapsucker hopping up a tree.
At various moments, I thought of the kindness and generosity of MEIC’s community members who’ve helped protect Montana’s environment so we can experience this richness. Sometimes I cannot believe how lucky I am to live here and how grateful I am to those who worked to ensure that people today can enjoy this clean air, water, and these wild landscapes. And I have to say that I love the notion that, when I’m gone, someone would be reminded of me while they’re experiencing a beautiful Montana summer day in the forest or a wildflower patch.
I’ve been thinking about this more in the past couple of months as MEIC has reached an exciting milestone that we want to share with our supporters… Starting in 2025, MEIC’s board has approved for our organization to begin dedicating a portion of the earnings from MEIC’s Permanent Fund (or endowment) to grow staff capacity, build stronger partnerships, and better connect Montanans with opportunities to make their voices heard for environmental protections and our quality of life. We have many people to thank for this position of abundance and opportunity.
MEIC is wholeheartedly humbled and honored by the generosity of Arlyne Reichert, Marian Jean Setter, Farwell Smith, Adam and Nancy McLane, John Crowley, Ron and Nancy Erickson, and Hallie Rugheimer for the bequests they left to MEIC in the past year. We are so sad to have lost their camaraderie and leadership, but their commitments to providing long-term support for MEIC through planned giving are providing us with both financial support and inspiration. Their profound love for Montana and the hope that people today and in the future will enjoy a clean and healthful environment in this state lives on with us and through our work. They have reminded us all of what we can do to leave an enduring legacy, regardless of our income level or giving ability.
MEIC’s work today will help pass along this version of Montana (or hopefully an even more clean and healthful one), and we are so honored that we will begin growing our organization’s impact thanks to the generosity and vision of our Clean and Healthful Legacy donors who have included MEIC in their will or as a beneficiary of a planned gift like an annuity. If you share this desire to leave is a more beautiful, healthy, thriving Montana when you go, there are a number of ways that you can follow in their footsteps, including:
- Leave a bequest to MEIC in your will.
- Contribute to the MEIC’s Permanent Fund endowment.
- Designate MEIC as a beneficiary in a Charitable or Deferred Gift Annuity through Montana Community Foundation.
- Give MEIC stock or other assets, either while you are living or in your will.
- Designate MEIC as a beneficiary on a life insurance policy or retirement plan.
Not only will your planned gift help protect Montana’s air, water, and land now and for future generations, you could provide yourself, your family, and other beneficiaries with significant tax benefits.
We believe that MEIC’s future is worth investing in! If you do, as well, and would like to receive more information and discuss planned giving options, please contact Cari Kimball: 406.443.2520×100 or ckimball@MEIC.org. Or if you’ve already included MEIC in your planned giving, please let us know so we can reach out with our gratitude.
This article was published in the July 2024 issue of Down To Earth.
