Give to your Future Through a Discretionary Fund

We wanted to make sure the organizations we care about, and this Peninsula, will still be the bene ciary of our love after I am gone. I need the Door County Community Foundation to ful ll these wishes. Over my decades in Door County, I have been impressed with the work of the Community Foundation and I am con dent in their capacity to continue the outstanding work that has been done to make this Peninsula that treasured place that it is.

Michael Schmitz was born and raised in Wisconsin and has lived in the state his entire life. All his education was completed in Wisconsin which included the University of Wisconsin – Madison where he met his late wife, Jeanne. ey knew after their rst date; they had found their life’s mate and were married the day after graduation. ey spent 62 wonderful years together before Jeanne passed away in 2019.

In 1999 after a 40-year career as a banking executive, it was time for Mike to retire and for him and Jeanne to build their home in Door County. ey built their home out of Door County beach stone modeled after the homes found on the shores of the Swedish Island of Gotland. e rst thing Mike did after retiring to the peninsula was become a legal resident. He didn’t want to be a seasonal resident but wanted to be part of the community. Mike quickly got involved with town of Liberty Grove, Midsummer’s Music, the Peninsula Music Festival, and the Land Trust to name a few.

Mike’s work in the community helped him understand the social needs and hurdles of year ’round residents. He believes that those who are able, owe it to the people of Door County to support our youth, education, and senior programing. Also recognizing that Door County is blessed with an abundance of natural resources, Mike is passionate about supporting the charities that are stewarding the natural treasures of Door County. “ is support is vital to preserve what we love about Door County so much: e people and the natural beauty. Jeanne would say, ‘Door County is as close as you can get to heaven without actually dying,’ and I wholeheartedly agree.”

By incorporating the Community Foundation into their estate planning Mike and Jeanne’s love for Door County will continue forevermore. Included in their plans is a gift to a Discretionary Fund in which the causes are selected by the donor, but the Community Foundation’s Board of Directors is entrusted with the selection of the speci c charities that receive grants from the Fund each year. ose moneys are distributed back into the community as Advancement Grants and Sustainability Grants.

Discretionary Funds are a source of revenue to address a future community need that we cannot even imagine today. A generation ago, there was no such thing as an automated external de brillator. Laptop computers weighed 25 pounds and were so expensive few people could a ord them. Most Americans had never heard of autism. Yet the Door County Community Foundation’s Board of Directors has made grants from its Discretionary Funds to support work in all these areas in recent years.

A gift to a Discretionary Fund is a gift to the future. We don’t know what tomorrow may bring, but we can be con dent that the Community Foundation will be there to address tomorrow’s needs and opportunities, whatever they may be. If you’d like, you can also endow your gift and it will provide a permanent source of income to be granted to those organizations which are truly making a di erence in Door County.