Millions of Americans give to various charities and foundations but rarely get to see first-hand how that money is — or will be — spent and the good it creates. But Lew and Nancy Hoyt are an exception.
Jennifer Perry, regional director of Arizona Community Foundation of Sedona, announced last week that the Hoyts have created a pair of endowments to benefit students at Sedona Red Rock High School, both academically and athletically.
“Lew and Nancy are amazing people,” Perry said. “Lew coached my oldest daughter, Sophia, in high jump and was instrumental in her going all the way to the state tournament.
“It is my distinct honor to assist clients like Lew and Nancy to help them create customized philanthropic plans. At ACF we help people to give both during their lifetime as well as after they pass. The nice part is there is no cost to the donor to set it up or to make changes like Lew and Nancy did.”
Perry added that donors can give to any charity around the globe or to their favorite school or university including scholarships.
The two endowments include the following:
■ Fund 1: “You Don’t Have to Be Average.” This will support the work of the faculty and staff at Sedona Red Rock High School to support the academic needs of current students and/or to support the needs of the athletic department. The local ACF staff will coordinate with the principal of Sedona Red Rock High School annually to determine the current needs and how funds will be used.
■ Fund 2: Hoyt SRRHS Athletic fund to help high school students in Sedona to excel in their athletic endeavors. This fund and annual income from the fund is to be used specifically to purchase equipment as needed for the high school’s athletes. Equipment is defined as uniforms, warm-ups, shoes and various other apparatus specific to each sport.
It is to be applied to all of the school’s sports programs, including but not limited to, track and field, soccer, football, tennis, baseball, basketball, swimming and volleyball.
Lew Hoyt, who was a prolific champion high jumper and alternate for a pair of Olympic track teams, said that in 2005 he beat cancer and from that point on had a new lease on life. The result was that he began giving back in various ways either through coaching, motivational speaking or scholarships. And in working with the Arizona Community Foundation, he realized there was a way they could help others upon their own deaths.
“My wife and I have no children,” he said. “So for the past 15 years of working with the students at SRRHS and coaching and motivating these student athletes, all have become ‘our kids.’ They are all great kids. And we are grateful and blessed to be able to help them.”
He said that like many other Sedona residents, they want to give to others through philanthropic means. However, he said they have “limited means” from which to give.
“Thanks to the ACF, we discovered that we can give more significantly to whatever charity we wish, without affecting our daily standard of living, or cash flow,” Hoyt said. “Most of us have significant equity in our homes and other investments. So, what we were able to establish with the ACF is an endowment with some of this equity, so that upon our passing away, a designated amount of this equity is passed through the ACF to the designated entity as an endowment.”
Hoyt said as time passes, they can even modify or change the endowments.
“Because it is an endowment, it can live on forever, because it is the interest — and not the endowment principal itself — that is dispersed,” he said. “However, in addition to the interest, we could have directed that a percentage of the endowment principal be dispersed. This is a win-win for everyone.”
