Endowment Fund

Ralph Ardiff, Endowment Committee Chairman

DANVERS ROTARY ENDOWMENT FUND

The Danvers Rotary Club established the DANVERS ROTARY ENDOWMENT FUND in 1990.  It is an Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(3) entity, and its goal is to seek out and bring to fruition worthwhile and desirable projects for our community.  It is our goal to raise significant funds over the years from members and friends of the Danvers Rotary Club with which to help underwrite major projects for our community.

In the first 17 years of its existence, the DANVERS ROTARY ENDOWMENT FUND underwrote the cost of an inspiring granite Memorial to the Victims of the Witchcraft Hysteria of 1692; we designed and built, at the cost of $176,000, a Pavilion located between the Peabody Institute Library and the Mill Pond, which has become a leading landmark in our community; we were the leading contributor to the creation of a Children’s Garden located on the grounds of the Library; we granted $30,000 towards the cost of a new gymnasium for the Danvers YMCA; and most recently, we constructed a parking lot and installed picnic tables and benches and laid out walking trails at the Town-owned Choate Farm.

In addition to regular transfers to the DANVERS ROTARY ENDOWMENT FUND from the Danvers Rotary Club and its members, we received a major gift from the Estate of the late community leader, Marjorie Wetzel, in the amount of $130,0000 and a bequest from the Estate of the late Danvers Rotarian, Irving Francis, in the amount of $25,000.  The DANVERS ROTARY ENDOWMENT FUND presently has assets of approximately $330,000.

In an effort to recognize those Rotarians and friends of Rotary who have donated not less than $1,000 or who have notified the Danvers Rotary Endowment Committee that they have made provision in their estate plans for future benefit to the DANVERS ROTARY ENDOWMENT FUND of not less than $1,000, we are establishing the DANVERS ROTARY ENDOWMENT FUND BENEFACTOR SOCIETY.  The following are currently members of the Benefactor Society:

Marjorie Wetzel              Completed Charitable Remainder Trust

Irving Francis                                   Completed Testamentary Bequest

Donald Desmond                    Beneficiary of Testamentary Trust

Ralph & Martha Ardiff            Beneficiary of Testamentary Trust

Becky Kilborn                                  Beneficiary of Testamentary Trust

As other Rotarians and friends of Rotary make a commitment to the DANVERS ROTARY ENDOWMENT FUND, we will add their names to the membership list of the BENEFACTOR SOCIETY of the DANVERS ROTARY ENDOWMENT FUND.

For Additional Information Regarding The Danvers Rotary Club Endowment Fund Please Contact:

Ralph Ardiff, Endowment Committee Chairman