¶ Philanthropy Today Podcast With Terry Arthur
Welcome to Philanthropy Today . We're excited to share information on ways you can support the charitable causes of your choice . My name is Vern Hendricks and I look forward to being with you today on our GMCF Philanthropy Today podcast series .
We're glad to have you back on our podcast series of Philanthropy Today and we're glad to have Terry Arthur with us here today . And , terry , it's always great .
You've been a huge part of the Community Foundation and obviously receiving one of our Cornerstone Awards at the CFAs was a special part of your life , I'm sure , and it was also special to us to be able to offer it to you so welcome .
Thank you , vern , glad to be here .
Well , to start us off here a little bit for our listeners , tell us a little bit about your role in the community and what you have done as a profession .
You've been a long time Manhattanite , so just give us a little background of Terry Arthur . Okay , well , my family came here in 1947 when my dad got out of law school . I lived here , except when I was in school . My whole life Came back in 1970 to practice law with the Arthur Green Law Firm .
There were three of us and I practiced there for 42 years , primarily doing wills and trusts and estate planning and tax and corporations . During that time I also became general counsel of the Kansas Farm Bureau and affiliated companies for almost 20 years and did all their legal work , and so that was interesting and I enjoyed it .
And then I also for 15 years during that 42 years taught at K-State in the accounting department in the graduate school and I taught corporation and partnership taxation to graduate accounting students . So I had two jobs , most of my professional career .
Well , that's terrific . It doesn't surprise me a bit . Everybody knows Terry and wants to take advantage of your knowledge . So what do you feel had the biggest impact on where you're at today ? A certain situation or a certain individual that's played a big part in your life ?
Well , I think the person that had the most influence in my life was my dad . I've been thinking about this . He was the finest man I've ever known . I've ever known and , as best I could , I've tried to emulate most of the things that I watched him over the years .
He was a very Christian man , was involved in the church in a leadership role and went to church every Sunday , so that carried over . He was also very active in the community .
He was a county attorney and mayor of Manhattan and in the legislature and in the House and the Senate and I didn't particularly want to do that so I never ran for any elective offices , but what I did notice about him , which has probably made the most important thing in my life , is his community involvement and his concern for the community , and if we had
enough time I could go over several things which I've enjoyed much more . And I upon a lot for advice . Everybody needs that good legal advice .
Or you want to start a 501c3 . I know it's important there , so tell us a little bit about how Terry spends his personal time . So what do you do to kind of get away from your work profession a little bit there ?
Well , I have quite a few hobbies and are involved in quite a few things Since I retired . My grandchildren are starting to grow up . So , Jenny and I spend a lot of time going to soccer games and volleyball games and seeing them , so that's been good . As you know , I like to play golf and we've got a pretty good group out at Colbert .
Hills so .
I do that fairly often . I'm also a licensed pilot and for many years I flew for business and personal . The last few years I've pretty much given that up because I'm getting too old probably to be capable as I should be , so I don't do that .
But I did enjoy that when I was flying , and Jenny and I like to travel both nationally and internationally , and more nationally now , but over the years we've been to quite a number of countries .
Well , I didn't know the pilot thing . That's a new one for me .
Well , yeah , you know , when I was practicing , I had a lot of clients who went places and they'd take me on their plane and I thought you know , if you ever have the ability and the time , you might try to be a pilot . So , uh , so I did .
And the first day that I had to solo by myself , I thought you dummy , the only person that's going to get you down is yourself .
But it did work out and and I flew for 10 years when I was general counsel for Farm Bureau they sent me all over Kansas and so , instead of driving to Goodland and back , well , I could fly to Goodland and back in a couple hours .
And so I enjoyed doing that . Yeah , that made good business sense from a time management standpoint for sure . So when did you first become involved in nonprofits or charitable work , and what was the cause of your first one ?
Well , I think the first charitable organization was the Big Lakes Developmental .
Center .
I had kind of been aware of that a little bit for a while . But they had a aware of that a little bit for a while . But they had a fundraiser when they sold Christmas trees one winter and so I went and bought a tree and got to visiting with Jim Shaver and he said , would you like to be on the board ? And I said sure .
And it was an amazing experience for me because Big Lakes is such a help to the people that they do help , and so I wanted to be instrumental in that .
So it turned out I was on the board for two different times , a total of 35 years and I was chairman during that time but saw a lot of growth in that organization in that organization , and also it's a little different being a director or an officer of a not-for-profit than it is for a for-profit , and so I gained some experience there .
¶ Community Foundation Impact and Future Plans
Have there been any charitable causes outside of Manhattan that you've gotten engaged with ?
I don't really think so . Most of what I've done is been with . Manhattan people that are located here .
Yeah , you've been very active in the Manhattan community , for sure , and so is there a charitable decision or experience that you've had that's made a big impact on your life .
Yes , I believe when I started working with the Greater Manhattan Community Foundation would be that I wasn't a founder , but I was involved from kind of the beginning , and before they were involved I did a lot of private foundations for clients , which are both expensive and time-consuming , and so when the Charitable Greater Manhattan Foundation was formed , it gave me
the ability to recommend to my clients if they want a donor advice fund , they should set it up there , and so I did that early on and so I had a direct professional relationship with the community foundation and then I saw the good work that was being done and eventually became a trustee and then on the board and an officer .
And then probably the biggest thing has been the involvement in the Goldstein Foundation and the Howe Foundation , and the reason I say that is that those two organizations have been instrumental in providing larger grants than the average person would be , and I really felt that it's been good because , being on the board of the Goldstein Foundation , we've been able to
associate with other charities and do some pretty major things in Manhattan , and I think that being with the Community Foundation in that capacity has been very important in my life .
That's excellent . Well , you've kind of segued in a couple of questions , but I'd like to ask you a little bit more on the Community Foundation side of things . So you've seen the growth of this from day one , and who actually got you first started in the Community Foundation world then ?
Well , of course I was close to Jim Gordon and Jim Morrison and Mark Knockendoffel .
Not surprised .
Yeah , and worked with them a lot in different aspects , but particularly Jim Gordon and Mark Knockendoffel on charitable things , and I could see what they were doing and what they had done . And so I would say they were instrumental in my becoming involved .
Start there . So then , that eventually led you to be board chair , board president at that point in time , and so all that process . So you've seen it from day one to now . So what do you see ? How do you feel the Community Foundation has made an impact in Manhattan in your eyes over this 25 years ?
Well in several respects . The first one is that I think it has allowed more people to become involved in charitable donations , both donation of funds and also being active in the community , and I think that's best highlighted by the Grow Green and I really think that's probably the most important thing .
In my opinion , that has been done by the Greater Manhattan Community Foundation because it has allowed numerous organizations 90 or 100 now to be involved and they go out and get their members and donors involved .
Once a year they send letters out to try to gain support and I think it's been instrumental in them gaining support , primarily probably because of the match , but then that's been important .
But that is something I would hope would continue in the future and I think it will and it'll change a little bit because of the changes and some of the folks providing the matching funds . Sure providing the matching funds . But I really feel that's the most important thing that I've seen in the community , charity-wise , and I think to continue in the future .
It's been a great experience to see Match Day from day one and obviously Phil Howe's generosity to be in the stepping up and inspiring people that way , and we're very lucky to have had Phil's support and the Howe Family Foundation in that process as well . As you serve also on the Howe Family Foundation ? Yes , I do so .
We're all great things lead to GMCF Terry Arthur's right on that process .
Well , I'm glad to do it . As I've told people , one of the most fun things in life is giving away other people's money . Most fun things in life is giving away other people's money . But yeah , phil , howe is as we all know , is a wonderful man and jack goldstein was as well . I didn't he ? Jack was joanne not joanne , but jane , his first wife .
Were my parents best friends ? Oh , okay , is growing up so I always knew him as mr . Oh okay , the future of how donations ? Well , I suggested he set up the family foundation and he did , and it's worked well .
Well , and we appreciate that and I would agree , so . So let's talk about the cornerstone award now . So you were recognized as one of the 25 most influential individuals in the 25 year history of the community foundation .
So when , when I called you and shared that information with you , how did it make you feel and what are your thoughts about being a recipient of the Cornerstone Award ?
Well , when you call me , I was on the road . Fortunately I had Bluetooth , so I didn't have to hold up the phone . I was more than surprised . I didn't know you were doing well , I didn't know what you were doing in that regard or doing 25 people , but I was very happy to be one and proud to be selected .
But you know , on reflecting on that , I know it must have been hard for you and the Community Foundation to select 25 people , because there are way more than that that have both done financial donations and service of those 25 , I was really representing other people that had been instrumental and I think that'd be true for everybody that was selected .
But it was a great honor . It was a tremendous evening . I couldn't believe the number of people that were there and it was very well done and I enjoyed it .
You're very deserving of the award . Your time in our history as a community foundation has been mentioned several times already and we just appreciate all you've done not only for the community foundation but our community as a whole . You mentioned it when you were even talking about your dad .
I mean , this is a very important part of your life and I think your dad would be very proud of you , right now ?
Well , I'd hope so . He lived till he was 93 , so he saw me do most of the things that I did . But he and I are great friends . We go along very well , and I think he practiced with me for 35 years and we never had a crossword , so I think that's pretty good .
I made some suggestions to him a couple of times which he didn't believe , but other than that , Well , that's good , and that may lead into my next question .
So what advice would you give to others who are thinking about making a charitable gift in general not necessarily to the Community Foundation , but you know what's the younger you or the earlier you what advice could you give somebody ?
Well , of course , in my doing my legal work and specializing in estate planning , I had that question come up fairly often and and I tried to direct people in the right direction , giving them the opportunity to make whatever decision on charities that they wanted .
And so if someone indicated an interest , then we would talk about well , do you want to make gifts now ? Talk about gift tax returns . Do you want to make gifts now ? Talk about gift tax returns . Do you want to make a gift in your will or trust , or to set it up through life insurance or whatever accountant ?
Or maybe come and see you about what the alternatives are and the options , because there are a lot more today than there used to be as I indicated , and you can make deferred gifts through the community foundation where before it was very expensive .
So , um , so I think that's the main thing , and there are other people that probably could visit with them , but the main thing is do what you think is the best for the ones that you want to support , and I don't care who . It is best for the ones that you want to support , right , and I don't care who it is .
I had one time that a fellow came in that was driving a 40-year-old pickup truck and I said why are you here ? And he said well , I want to set up a foundation . He said well , my family's the largest shareholder in CBS Turned out to be . He was a college professor at K-State and a pretty frugal guy . So I said , what charities would you like to do ?
And he was very liberal and I had never heard of any of the charities .
He wanted support .
Right , but nevertheless we did Absolutely and it worked for him . So that's the kind of thing .
Well , obviously , people seek out those that have some professional knowledge , and seeing you is a good thing to do . So where do you feel the Community Foundation should focus its efforts ? Moving forward . We've had 25 years now we're in that process . We've had 25 years now we're in that process . We've had some strong growth of the community foundation .
What's our next 25 years going to look like in your mind ?
Well , I don't know . I might be kind of trying to say more of the same , but it's a formula that has worked and I think that's what we should look at .
I think the two most important things would be continue to grow green , and I was noticing in something you sent me what the grow green dates were for all your I don't know how many add 10 or so around the state . So that's really worked for them as well . So I think that's real important . I think that should continue .
These large donors and supporting organizations that don't come along very often but you know , we started the Goldstein Foundation because the gift he wanted to make didn't work , going into Greater Manhattan Community Foundation , greater Manhattan Community Foundation so those supporting organizations reformed Now we have several , and I was thinking the other day is that you've
grown so much that it really isn't necessary to have that supporting ? organization as much as before because you have the ability to take a large donation internally . So I'd say those are the things that we might want to think about .
And for our listeners . If a foundation receives more than 30% of its asset value , it's considered to possibly throw it into a private foundation category , and so that's why the initial supporting organization was set up .
And sometimes supporting organizations don't accept gifts from IRAs or 401ks or anything quite as well , and so that's why you have to set up the supporting organization versus a donor advised fund . So there are some rules on those donor advised fund , but you're exactly right , the donor advised fund is a simpler way to do it at this stage .
I think that a recommendation I would have would be that if people in that size of an estate are interested , they should contact somebody that understands what's required . So for instance , if it's a large one like Jack Goldstein , he originally left his to the Community Foundation , which we couldn't accept it , so we did the supporting organization .
Well , I'd been practicing law for 30 or 40 years then and I wasn't sure about a supporting organization because we never did one . So I got a hold of an attorney in Kansas City that knew how to do it and he helped us and we set it up , and now we've done several more , so hopefully there'll be donors like that in the future .
And the other thing a supporting organization does is it allows the donor to be involved in decisions . They can't be a majority of the board but they can certainly be influential in terms of board decisions .
Yeah , the way it works again for our listeners is the community foundation appoints one more than the supporting organization family member generally has . So if there's the case of the Goldstein , there's four from the Goldstein , from the SPS companies , and then we appoint five trustees to be on that board . That's a member of nine . Well , this is great , terry .
We've kind of talked about all aspects of your life here today a little bit . Is there anything that you would look back and give your younger version of Terry Arthur any advice today that you didn't wish you'd have known then ?
Oh , probably . I know that over the years you had to know kind of what you're doing .
You had to be confident in what you were doing , but you also had to have a personality that went well with the clients , and maybe I had that to start with , but I certainly tried to develop it , certainly tried to develop it , and my philosophy has been , and yours probably is too treat everybody the same over your lifetime . I know my dad did that .
That's where I learned it , and it doesn't matter whether the president of the university or an instructor or whoever else , everybody's the same , and so I tried to emulate that , and so that would be something that I would say is good to know . I think I probably did know that to start , but I certainly knew it better as I went along
¶ Congratulating Terry on Cornerstone Award
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Well , terry , this has been wonderful . I want to congratulate you again on receiving the Cornerstone Award Very deserving , and it's been an honor for me to call you , a friend and a colleague in this process and many aspects of our community life , and I thank you again for joining us today .
Well , I appreciate all your hard work , all that you've done to make it successful and all around . So together we'll go forward into the future .
Thank you for joining us today where we look inside the Greater Manhattan Community Foundation . You can always learn more about GMCF at our website , mcfksorg . We invite you to subscribe to Philanthropy Today , wherever you get your podcast .
I am Vern Henricks and have enjoyed hosting our Cornerstone Award Series in the Ad Astra Cast Studios here in downtown Manhattan , kansas .