Dianne Polasik is a fund advisor at the St. Croix Valley Foundation. Through her family's donor advised fund, Dianne has found joy in giving to causes she cares about deeply.
Pictured above: Dianne Polasik and her family members (Photos courtesy of Dianne Polasik)
Dianne Polasik loves many things: her family, education, and caring for people and the environment, to name a few of them. As a fund advisor at St. Croix Valley Foundation (SCVF), Dianne has found joy in giving through a donor advised fund, which allows her to support the things she cares about most.
“I was a public school nurse for 24 years," said Dianne, "so I worked with a lot of teachers. Bless their hearts, I think they have challenging jobs that are so very important. And I worked with children their families and learned we can do better for our kids. Each has a different story to be heard."
For Dianne, hearing those stories often translates into giving of her time, talents, and treasure as a tireless community volunteer and an advisor of a donor advised fund.
Donor advised funds essentially allow an individual, family, or business to establish a foundation within SCVF. When someone establishes a donor advised fund, they get a tax benefit that year, plus the ability to make grants from the donor advised fund every year as long as they live. Fund advisors can recommend grants at any time to any eligible charity, including those they already support.
For Dianne and her husband Tom, grantmaking through a donor advised fund is easy and offers flexibility, as well as the ability to respond to community needs quickly.
"What do you give to that has the most impact, lasts the longest, or does the most good for the most people?" Dianne often asks herself. "And those are really hard questions, but I think when we pick education and environment, that hits the two big ones.”
For Dianne, who never intended to be a fund advisor, entering the world of grantmaking was a surprise. Donor advised funds may be set up to pass on to successor advisors upon death of the original fund advisor. Unbeknownst to Dianne, she had been designated as a successor advisor to the Lee S. and Dorothy N. Whitson Fund of the St. Paul Foundation - named for two dear family friends who thought of Dianne like a daughter.
"I didn’t know [Lee] was naming me the fund's successor until he passed away," said Dianne. "And I thought it meant that I would go to meetings and offer ideas about where grants should go. But the lawyer said, ‘No, you get to decide.’ I was pretty blown away. What an amazing gift that somebody can give – the gift for you to give. And that’s just has always been special for Tom and I. That’s why we'd like to do the same things for our kids, pass on that joy of giving.”
When asked about her own approach to giving and legacy of generosity, Dianne paused before answering.
"Tom and I have a big picture of what our world needs, like kindness, truth, and responsibility," she said. "We look at our values and find our own passion and try to match other efforts. We want our grandkids to grow up in that kind of world and have a joy of giving back. But where they give will be their choice, just like it's been ours."
To learn more about donor advised funds and other opportunities for establishing your legacy, contact President and CEO Heather Logelin today: hlogelin@scvfoundation.org or 715-386-9490.