Making A Global Impact: The Legacy Foundation

BUILD YOUR OWN LEGACY. IMPACT LIVES.

Providing oil and gas royalty owners a way to maximize the giving potential of their royalties.

Legacy Foundation offers royalty owners an effective and creative way to maximize the giving potential of their royalties. Historically, most royalties donated to charities are immediately liquidated. Since the buyer is paying a discounted price, the money received from selling is almost always much less than the total money that the royalties will generate over time. Our Foundation will not sell the royalties, but instead will capitalize on the long-term cash flow by keeping the royalties and distributing the monthly revenues.

Royalty owners who donate to the Foundation can direct the same amount of money to their charities, just as if the royalties were sold, but the royalties are not sold and will continue funding mission-specific charities for many years to come. In the end, more money is generated, more money is given to charities, and more people are helped. Also, the donor receives a charitable tax deduction equal to the appraised value of the royalties in the year gifted.

Our mission is to fund Christian organizations that support health, education, welfare and spiritual growth, and we are actively looking for donors that share this vision.

Legacy Foundation was set up in 2013 by Steve and Susan Smith and is operated through the East Texas Communities Foundation, Inc., a 501 (c)(3). Over the years, Mr. Smith has started and managed several royalty funds. Mr. Smith wants to use his experience and expertise to develop and grow the Foundation whereby donors and charities will receive the greatest good from oil and gas royalties. Mr. Smith does not plan to charge a fee for his management services or overhead associated with managing the Foundation.

The Foundation operates under specific written guidelines to assure donors that their royalties are managed properly. A detailed prospectus including all management regulations is available to anyone interested. Please call or email if you would like additional information.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

1. Why should a donor give to the Legacy Foundation instead of directly to charities?

Historically, most royalties donated to charities are immediately liquidated. Since the buyer is paying a discounted price, the money received from selling is almost always much less than the total money that the royalties will generate over time. The Foundation will not sell the royalties, but instead will capitalize on the long-term cash flow by keeping the royalties and distributing the monthly revenues. The donor can specify the charities to receive the same amount of funding as if the royalties were liquidated, but instead the royalties will be retained and will continue funding mission-specific charities for many years to come. In the end, more money is generated, more money is given to charities, and more people are helped. Also, the donor receives a charitable tax deduction equal to the appraised value of the royalties in the year gifted.

2. Why wouldn’t the Donor set up their own foundation?

The Donor can do this, but they will have to set up a means of managing the foundation as well as comply with all legal and accounting requirements for foundations, which are significant. Legacy Foundation gives the donors an opportunity to fund the charities of their choice without the hassle.

3. Why is the Legacy Foundation set up under the East Texas Communities Foundation (“ETCF”)? Why didn’t they set up their own foundation?

We thought about it, but the legal and accounting rules, regulations and reporting requirements are extensive and cumbersome. ETCF takes care of all that for a nominal fee, allowing the Legacy Foundation to focus on receiving and managing royalties. The time, effort and expense associated with managing your own foundation is daunting, and ETCF does it for us at a fraction of the cost and time that a stand-alone foundation would incur.

4. Why are Steve Smith and Legacy Royalties even doing this? What’s in it for them?

We have a desire to use our expertise and abilities to help charitable organizations that operate within the scope of our mission statement. We know how to manage royalties efficiently and at low overhead, and we want to use our abilities to maximize charitable giving of royalty income. The only thing “in it for us” is goodwill, a good reputation, and the satisfaction of seeing more money supporting charities.

5. How do I know that Steve Smith and Legacy Royalties will not somehow benefit financially from the Foundation?

The Foundation has strict management, reporting and audit requirements which the Foundation Advisory Board must comply with and which will be reviewed and overseen by the ETCF Board. These requirements prohibit any profiting or transactions involving past, current and future Foundation Advisory Board members and family members, which includes Steve Smith and Legacy Royalties.