Legacy Endowment Community Foundation is excited to announce the return of Michael Dunlap to its Board of Directors, effective Sept. 1, 2021. In 1994, Dunlap, along with Helen Monroe, Fred Vaught, and Jon Frandell, envisioned a tremendous opportunity to launch a community foundation entirely dedicated to serving the furthermost regions of San Diego North County. At that time, their planning and expertise were aimed towards creating a foundation that could award generous grants to support local nonprofit organizations that were unlikely to come to the attention of foundations located in southern San Diego County or beyond.
In addition, they were highly focused on creating a community foundation that would provide expertise, leadership, and sophisticated planned giving options for nonprofits that many either lacked or had limited access to such resources.
“Although Legacy was founded in late 1994 with its IRS nonprofit charitable designation, our first distributions created from investment management were made in fiscal year 1996,” said Jean Larsen, executive director. “In a year where 2020 was impacted by COVID, we are recognizing this year as a retro-celebration of our 25th anniversary. Our Community Fund has grown significantly over the past 19 months, and with our ability to make immediate board-designated grants when applications meet the criteria, we have grown exceptionally nimble at helping organizations financially bridge unexpected challenges specifically related to the COVID impact.”
Dunlap served for several board terms and as Legacy’s president. He is a retired CPA with extensive experience with planned giving, estate giving, and financial planning. He and his wife, Nancy, founded Dunlap and Dunlap CPAs which concluded its thirty-plus years of serving clients in the North County region in 2010. When scaling back his CPA practice, Dunlap ramped up focus on their Escondido Sunrise Vineyard, a producer of delicious Merlot and Zinfandel wines.
When not in the vineyard overseeing the grapes or coordinating the annual crush, Dunlap can be found serving with his longtime Escondido Rotary Club members, cruising with Nancy on the high seas, or managing Cabin by the Lake, a nonprofit he founded which is dedicated to building ADA compliant cabins locally and regionally.
“Having Mike rejoin our Board of Directors is extraordinarily inspiring, not only to me but to the entire Board,” said Rachel Mason, Legacy’s current board chair. “Mike’s commitment and dedication to Legacy continued on after his first terms in an advisory role for almost two decades. He has been instrumental to our continuing success at a variety of important junctures in our organizational history. However, having him actively involved as a Director again will most certainly advance our ability to deliver vitally needed services and resources to meet community needs.”
Mason went on to add, “Legacy’s asset base has grown to more than $16 million and we look forward this year to delivering grants and distributions that will exceed our support last year. We are able to do this because of Mike’s forward-thinking vision more than 25 years ago.”
Legacy Endowment Community Foundation is 100% dedicated to representing the interests of its donors. Its donor-centric stewardship responsibilities focus on donors having a safe and productive investment haven for making charitable contributions to their favorite charities, even in challenging times. Years-long analysis of their endowment performance demonstrates solid and consistent returns, and a recent analysis of their investment strategy shows a solid market recovery and significant gains from 2020’s historic and turbulent year.
For more information about Legacy Endowment Community Foundation, call 760-941-8646.