Bud and Betty Knoedler

Trustee Emeritus Bud Knoedler ’51 and his late wife, Betty ’50 (who passed away in 2013), established a family foundation to support Christian ministries and teach their children the importance of stewardship. After learning about the Wheaton College  donor advised fund (DAF), they transferred the assets of their family foundation into a DAF. Doing so enabled them to carry on their charitable giving without having to deal with the administrative costs and hassles that come with a private foundation.

“We saw no down side to this,” says Bud. “We had a family foundation for ten years. It was working fairly well, but we found it was more work than we anticipated handling all of the accounting, tax filings, et cetera. Now Wheaton handles it all. I just send Wheaton a quarterly list of organizations to receive distributions and it’s done. Then after a week or so I get copies of all of the checks sent by Wheaton College so I know that it was done in a timely manner. I still get an acknowledgement from all of the organizations that we give to, which has been important for staying in direct contact with each of them. The whole process is well done."

Bud says the transition to a DAF was simple and seamless, with good communication and no set-up costs. “My only regret is the cost we incurred to set up the original family foundation. I wish we would have gone with the Wheaton DAF from the beginning.”

The Knoedlers gave each of their children a percentage of the DAF to designate as they choose. “Eventually, they will handle all of the decision-making regarding distributions,” says Bud. “It helps teach our family about the importance of stewardship and the ministries in which Betty and I have had an interest. We set it up, knowing that our giving would continue after both of us are gone. The Wheaton DAF has been a significant part of our estate planning efforts.”