Stories
Lynn McLaughlin
W. Lynn McLaughlin loves Bay Area real estate, and Bay Area real estate has loved him right back.
After working with Coldwell-Banker and TRI, Lynn formed a real estate partnership in the 70s called Victoria Associates with Art Hoff of Emeryville. The partners invested in apartment buildings in Pacific Heights and other choice Bay Area locations and watched their investments rise in value.
Thirty years later, Lynn plans for Grace Cathedral to benefit from his real estate success through a bequest in his estate plan.
But Lynn, who speaks about Grace Cathedral with affection and emotion, is not simply paying tribute to a beautiful building. "I'm a great fan of the message Grace Cathedral puts out," Lynn says. "We minister to a wide variety of people. We include those living on the edge with the well-to-do and those momentarily inspired by just driving or walking by."
His estate plan, combined with that of his domestic partner, David Webb who shares his affection for the cathedral, has some of the complexity of cathedral architecture. Upon the death of Lynn or David their share of Victoria Associates will be held in an irrevocable trust for the other, with Grace Cathedral being the ultimate beneficiary.
Underlying the intricate plan is the simple motivation to project what Lynn calls "a broad message of love, acceptance, and, above all, caring about people."
"We've made great efforts over the years to make Grace Cathedral a warm, welcoming place," he said. "If people hesitate at the door, our greeters bring them in, whether they're German tourists or San Francisco natives."
Lynn recently found that Grace's welcome-all strategy is working while listening to a silver-haired judge at a cocktail party in Naples, Florida, Lynn and David's current home. The judge asked Lynn if he knew "the church with the doors in San Francisco across the street from the Fairmont." When David said he was a member of Grace Cathedral, the judge said, "I never felt so welcomed any place in my life."
Jill Kramer
Jill Kramer loves Grace Cathedral's media ministry whose award-winning website attracts some 50,000 hits a month. "The media ministry is superb," she said. But, she added, it's not mentioned in her will, nor is any other specific Grace Cathedral ministry.
When she and her husband, Buzz, wrote living trusts a few years ago, Jill did not want to bind the Cathedral to her enthusiasm for GraceCom. She made her bequest to the Cathedral unrestricted. "I trust the Cathedral to do the right thing when the time comes." Her trust rests on experience.
"As a Cathedral Trustee, I've seen full deliberation of priorities and the careful use of funds. I recently worked on the strategic planning committee. I know what lies ahead for Grace Cathedral and I agree with it."
Her zeal for GraceCom remains undiminished. "People otherwise unconnected with Grace Cathedral can go to our website to be inspired, to hear a sermon, to hear a concert or to tune into The Forum for a fascinating issue-driven discussion. It embodies the slogan: 'reconnect your spirit without disconnecting your mind'."
She is confident the Cathedral will preserve her gift, applying income annually to the community and causes she loved during life. "Grace Cathedral is a responsible custodian." She sees careful estate planning and charitable giving as her way of exercising that same kind of stewardship.
"We have two children and a grandchild. Our estate plan protects their interests and will assist the causes most true to our hearts. We also frankly thought Uncle Sam had quite enough of our annual tax dollars and estate planning is prudent sharing of what otherwise would go to taxes."
"We feel privileged to be able to leave something to the causes we care about." All with no strings attached.
Eric Hubert
Elridge Campbell ("Eric") Hubert, 84, has found a cure for the common worry of outliving one's resources.
Combining stock he received from a friend in the 1970s with some of his own resources, he has created a $400,000 charitable gift annuity that will benefit Grace Cathedral while providing him with a guaranteed supplemental retirement account.
His friend, a San Francisco resident whom he saw confirmed at Grace Cathedral shortly before her death in 1976, left him stock. She wanted him to live off the income with principal passing to the Cathedral. His gift annuity allowed him to formalize this arrangement.
The annuity pays him fixed amounts quarterly for life, 8.8% of his original gift annually. Whatever remains in his account at his death will pass to Grace Cathedral.
"It's comforting to know there is a way to offset the fear of running out of funds," Mr. Hubert said.
A World War II combat veteran and former assistant administrator and director of resident services for St. Paul's Towers retirement community in Oakland, Mr. Hubert encourages both planning ahead and living to the fullest.
Along with volunteer service for several cultural organizations, he served on Grace Cathedral's board of trustees in the 1970s. "I went door-to-door on Nob Hill begging for the Cathedral," he recalled.
He had been thinking for some time about leaving a gift to Grace Cathedral and he put his gift annuity together quickly once he received the application form and the tax and income calculations from the Cathedral's planned giving specialist.
Of the aftermath of his annuity gift, he says: "The last thing I want is recognition. I'm not interested in names on buildings. But I wouldn't mind persuading others to do likewise."
Please contact Jane Dickstein at 415/749-6319 or janed@gracecathedral.org to be referred to our planned giving specialist.
