Create a Legacy

Planned giving. Each year, thousands of individuals designate a portion of their assets through a bequest in their wills. Bequests enable individuals to make significant gifts that they may not have been able to make during life:

Ella M. Smith’s bequest more than 100 years ago gave the library its first permanent home: the Stark Street Library. The foundation's planned giving society is named in her honor.

Helen Kroll never drove a car. She got her first clothes dryer in her 70s. She made a modest income as an employee for attorney Frank Bosch. Every lunch hour, she walked across the street to Portland’s Central Library where she devoured mystery and detective novels. The library was her home away from home—her friends always knew they could find her there. What her friends didn’t know was that she was accumulating a fortune. Always discreet, Helen surprised everyone when she left the library a $2.2 million gift in her will. This gift still stands as the largest single bequest to The Library Foundation. Central Library’s Literature and History Library is named in her honor.

Anonymous donor: Late each night in the year 1940, a little boy named James flipped the switch on a flashlight to quietly read under the covers. The joy he found in reading was a bright light in his troubled life, as he bounced from one foster home to the next. Reading became his best friend.

There were some 20 foster homes in all for James, until a social worker named Alice adopted him. She helped him realize the promise that those secret books had offered him. She gave him the opportunity for education, success, a better life—the one he’d previously only known in that tiny pool of light under the covers. Today James, now in his 70s, credits reading with giving him the inspiration to finish school, build a successful career and give back to the community. Books helped him become intellectually curious and imagine a life of possibility. Today he is giving back to support Multnomah County Library.

Establish a named endowment. Establishing a permanent endowment in your name or the name of a loved one is a wonderful way to create a legacy, as well as provide ongoing funds to Multnomah County Library. With this type of fund, a percentage of the earned income is used to carry out the purpose of the endowment while the principal remains intact. A contribution or bequest of $25,000 or more will establish a named endowment.

Learn more. To learn more about planned giving, setting up an endowment or for information on programs, collections and physical spaces available for naming, please contact Karie Trumbo at 503.223.4385 or email us.