A FUND FOR THE FAMILY
Anthony Morley and Ruth Anne Olson
Alomor Fund Founders

Anthony Morley and Ruth Anne Olson are husband and wife and cofounders of the Alomor Fund at their hometown's Minneapolis Foundation. The name of their donor-advised fund is from the three family names they united when they married and blended his and her children into one family 25 years ago - a family that played a key role in their decision to establish the Alomor Fund.

Tony and Ruth Anne own shorefront property on Lake Superior, land which has increased in value since they purchased it and carries an increasingly heavy tax burden. The high valuation creates a potential of passing on greater wealth than Tony and Ruth Anne believe is healthy for their families. Further, they fear that after they die, the taxes on the property and decisions about how to use it could disrupt the harmonious relationships among their seven children. Tony and Ruth Anne have seen this happen in other families and don't want it to happen in theirs, so they decided to leave the property to charity instead. That led them to create the Alomor Fund, which will inherit the property at their deaths.

Meanwhile, the couple now makes all major charitable contributions through the Alomor Fund. "It immensely simplified our record-keeping and tax reporting of deductible gifts," says Ruth Anne. "We just make one large donation to the Minneapolis Foundation, which then divides it among other charities that we recommend." Specifically, Tony and Ruth Anne transfer stock to the Minneapolis Foundation, which sells the shares, credits the proceeds to the Alomor Fund, then makes distributions as the couple advises.

Tony and Ruth Anne say they are inspired by a recent movement in their city to base the amount of their annual donations on one percent of net worth rather than on a percentage of income. While this is a principle that is usually held up to encourage the very wealthy to give large amounts to charity, Tony and Ruth Anne believe it can also guide the giving of people in more modest circumstances like their own, which they describe as "upper middle."

Tony and Ruth Anne have long kept separate finances, so they separately decide how much to contribute each year to their joint fund. They also separately decide how much of their individual contributions go to which organization or institution. They each draw up a list of donation priorities. Then they review and discuss their choices and merge their lists into a single letter directing the Minneapolis Foundation how to distribute money from the Alomor Fund. The foundation writes and mails the checks on their behalf.

A retired editorial writer for the Minneapolis StarTribune and former magazine publisher, Tony learned as a child to make charitable gifts; part of his first boyhood wages went to the cause of racial justice. Ruth Anne, who recently retired as an education and arts consultant, learned from her parents to give time and energy to charitable causes, but only as an adult learned the importance of financial giving as well.

	WORDS OF ADVICE "Consider establishing a donor-advised fund in your local community foundation. It's very simple," they say. "The Minneapolis Foundation staff gave us all the information we needed."

Both Tony and Ruth Anne have a strong preference for giving to organizations that are run by and for communities of color. Both say their interest in racial equality is motivated by their life experience and by their religious beliefs. As a young adult, Ruth Anne spent two years in the Philippines working for a joint labor union/church project; Tony was involved with similar issues at an inner-city parish in St. Louis, Missouri. Now their active volunteer work and their giving priorities include St. James Episcopal Church in Minneapolis and secular groups committed to racial and multicultural equity.

Tony and Ruth Anne place a high value on strengthening their family by strengthening their community, especially in areas that haven't enjoyed as much privilege as they have. To an extent, they say, there is an element of self-interest as well as "giving back" in this approach. They hope their legacy will include a stronger community and a worthy model for their adult children.

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