Newsroom
Pictured left to right are Julie Crocker, executive director of Talbot Hospice Foundation and Margaret Riehl, board member of Mid-Shore Community Foundation.
The Fund for Talbot County Helps Meet Emergency Needs
Easton, Maryland - November 11, 2010
Margaret K. Riehl of Easton learned at an early age that communities often had unmet needs. Riehl, the fourth of 13 children, lived in Baltimore in a middle class family. After World War II, Riehl’s father, Henry J. Knott, addressed the post-war needs he saw by building moderate income housing in the Baltimore area. Although Knott achieved great success as a businessman, he never forgot his roots, and gave over $200 million to charities in his lifetime.
Riehl, now a board member and chair of the Mid-Shore Community Foundation’s Institutional Advancement Committee, is involved with helping build the Foundation’s new Fund for Talbot County – a goal she considers critical to the Foundation’s ability to address the needs of the community. The Fund for Talbot County is one of five new county funds at the Foundation and allows donors to focus their support on their community. There is no minimum amount required to be a donor to the Fund for Talbot County, but named funds can be established with a $10,000 gift.
When asked about the value of the Fund for Talbot County, she comments, “There are limited resources here on the Eastern Shore. Although volunteerism is strong, there are still many individuals and organizations in the community with the capacity to support the growing needs of our nonprofits and the people they serve. The Fund for Talbot County offers donors flexibility and convenience, and the opportunity to pool their gifts.”
Importantly, the Fund is established as an endowment within the Mid-Shore Community Foundation’s pool of permanent funds. As an endowment, the fund will benefit from the investment capacity of the Foundation; it will also assure an ongoing source of support to the Talbot County community in perpetuity. In addition to cash gifts, the Fund can be designated as a beneficiary of a Charitable Remainder Trust or of a Charitable Gift Annuity hosted by the Mid-Shore Community Foundation, as well as in individual bequests.
Riehl concludes, “Although I have been involved in seeing programs begin and end, I most enjoy what gets done in between. It is very rewarding to fill in the gaps.”
The Mid-Shore Community Foundation connects private resources with public needs to enhance the quality of life for the citizens of Caroline, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne’s and Talbot counties, Maryland. For further information, about the Fund for Talbot County, contact Stuart Bounds at the Mid-Shore Community Foundation at 410-820-8175 or visit www.mscf.org.
