Calvin True spent 51 years as a lawyer with Eaton Peabody. He spent most of his career assisting individual and corporate clients with wealth transfer and business succession planning and worked with individuals and charitable organizations to develop and implement their charitable objectives. True served on the Maine Community Foundation Board of Directors from 2003 to 2008.

MaineCF: You have been involved with MaineCF in many different ways over the years. What spurred your involvement on the Board of Directors?

Calvin True: I was an early supporter of having an organization like MaineCF. I had watched it grow and had utilized some of the resources that were available on the foundation’s website and knew a couple of the lawyers who had either served or were serving on the board. When the legendary Art Thompson sat down with me one day and asked if I would think about serving on the board, I said that sounded like something that would be of interest to me.

MaineCF: As a trust and estate attorney, what do you see as your role in the philanthropy conversation with clients?

True: I divide my clients into three categories when it comes to philanthropy. The first is those who have no experience being donors to charitable organizations. Typically, they don’t come in with a plan to have a portion of their assets go to one or more charitable organizations. For those clients, it might be $5,000 to the church or $1,000 to the Humane Society.

The second category is those who have a very clear focus. They may want to create scholarships for engineering students at the University of Maine, and in that case, I work directly with the University of Maine Foundation on their behalf.

The third is really where MaineCF comes into play in a significant way. It’s those who typically have some wealth and are very charitably inclined, but don’t really know how to go about implementing a plan for how their philanthropic dollars should be used. Those are the ones who want to do something meaningful.

I put them in the hands of people at the foundation who do this every day and who are really good at it. Invariably, those people come back to me and say it worked out well. From my standpoint, it’s a win-win-win situation. I helped my client, my client is happy and communities benefit from grants from MaineCF.

MaineCF: Would you be willing to share an example of an experience where partnering with MaineCF helped a client achieve their charitable goals?

True: A couple of years ago, I worked with a woman who had sold her business and had gotten more money than expected. She wanted to put $5 million to $10 million toward philanthropic objectives but didn’t know how to go about it. She met with a MaineCF staff person in the Ellsworth office.

She is really happy and is in the process of putting more dollars with MaineCF because of her experience. I have no question something really good came out of it.

MaineCF: As you move on to your next adventure beyond the practice of law, are there any parting words you have for other professional advisors about how they may benefit from working with MaineCF?

True: MaineCF works to build healthier and stronger communities. I view it as an organization that helps Maine people implement their philanthropic objectives. That happens in a variety of ways.

I had a relatively wealthy couple from Washington County with a desire for their assets to go to worthy charitable organizations. They asked their son to disperse this to qualifying charitable organizations that he selected. When we got into the settlement of the estate, we had to identify where the money is going to go. The son was just wringing his hands. He didn’t want to be forced to decide and wanted to do what was right by his parents.

To give him some time to be able to make a comfortable decision, we put everything with MaineCF in a donor-advised fund. It bought him some time so that he and the person he’s working with at MaineCF can comfortably get him to a good result honoring his parents’ wishes.

Recently, I got several calls from clients after the Lewiston shootings saying, “Tell us what we can do to be helpful.” I was already aware that the foundation was putting together a support fund. I told them, “There are a lot of well-intended organizations out there, but I know MaineCF is going to do the right thing with your funds.”

From my standpoint, it doesn’t matter whether it’s a new professional advisor or someone who’s on the verge of retiring like I have been for years now. MaineCF is the resource that connects Maine people to both identify and implement philanthropic endeavors.