Jean Deighan holds her puppy, MacK, in the Bangor office of Deighan Wealth Advisors, which she co-founded in 1994. Deighan graduated from Hampden Academy, Tufts University, and the University of Maine School of Law. She practiced law briefly before joining a bank trust department, where her interest in financial planning and portfolio management began. Photo Thalassa Raasch

Bangor’s Jean Deighan recalls the Penobscot County Fund’s beginnings and the benefits of giving

MaineCF: How would you describe giving in your community and how has it affected you?

Jean Deighan: Bangor is a very generous community. There has been a long and deep tradition here of giving treasure and time. As my mother said to me, if you don’t have money, you can always give your time. That’s how I and many others started, and as we became successful, we gave both.

MaineCF: Could you tell me about how you became involved with MaineCF’s Penobscot County Fund?

Deighan: MaineCF started the Penobscot County Fund in the late 2000s. When I joined the MaineCF Board, the community foundation already had many great successful county funds serving Maine communities. At my very first MaineCF board meeting, Bob Woodbury, then chair of the board, showed us a large slide of the state with county funds colored in, with a huge blank hole in the center. I looked at it with dismay; it was Penobscot County, with no county fund.

So we very quickly started to remedy that – and how we did it is quite a story. It starts with the Junior League of Bangor (JLB), a community support organization comprised of women who not only trained volunteers, but identified community needs and launched projects to address the needs. The women who came through JLB training served on boards all over Penobscot County and were incredibly effective leaders. No one in JLB wore white gloves.

However, JLB represented a huge time commitment, and in the 2000s it was difficult for women to have careers, families, and still give the amount of time in the community their mothers did in the 1950s when women generally didn’t have careers outside the home. It was the end of an era, but nothing is constant except change, so we embraced the change and began to look for a home for our small but growing endowment.

The Junior League of Bangor’s endowment began in 1988 when we raised $10,000 from members and added it to some Merrill Bank stock that we had received in lieu of a small savings account during the Great Depression.

From our modest beginning, the Junior League’s intrepid investment committee grew the endowment even while spending the interest and dividends on community projects. When the Junior League closed its doors, members were delighted to find, in MaineCF, an organization that shared the same basic mission of investing in and building strong communities. Thus our members happily stepped up as leaders one last time and gave their $100,000 endowment to seed the Penobscot County Fund. Even better, JLB offered up some great leadership: Susan Carlisle served as an early Penobscot County Fund chair and remains involved. It certainly is very exciting that this is the Penobscot County Fund’s 10th anniversary year!

MaineCF: A big change in federal tax law increases the standard deduction and limits allowable itemized deductions, so fewer taxpayers are itemizing deductions. Have you noticed any change in your clients’ thoughts on charitable giving based on this?

Deighan: In my experience, and this is supported by research, people give because they follow their hearts. People also generally expect to get a tax benefit. I am not sure donors are yet focused on the changes in the tax benefit and how it will reflect, or not, on their tax return. Regardless, I expect charitable giving will continue, and I think it is the role of an investment advisor to help people give in the best possible way.

We recommend two ways to address the new tax law changes. People who are financially able can combine several years of charitable giving into one year and create a donor-advised fund (DAF). This will allow donors to realize a tax benefit since in that one year their itemized deduction will exceed the standard deduction. Then they can make grants from the donor-advised fund over the ensuing years to their favorite charitable organizations.

Also, IRA owners over age 70½ can give directly to charity using their required IRA minimum distribution (RMD) as a qualified charitable distribution (QCD). The beauty of a QCD is that the gifted IRA distribution is not recognized as taxable income. Consequently, our advice depends somewhat on the age of the donor. If the donor is under 70½, we recommend a donor-advised fund as a good route and, of course, MaineCF is a wonderful place to do it.

MaineCF: What is it about donor-advised funds at MaineCF that you think sets us apart for your clients?

Deighan: MaineCF knows the state and the needs in our communities. Some of this knowledge comes from the grassroots work done by the county funds. Local people serve on the county committees, review grant applications and proposals from local nonprofits, and then make the grants in their communities. Those volunteer committee members are MaineCF’s eyes and ears across the state. The great gift MaineCF brings to donors is that it is plugged into the needs in Maine. MaineCF can help match the donor’s interest areas with those needs, and that makes something really wonderful happen as communities across Maine grow and become stronger.