What is your legacy?
Message from Governor Walker
Dear Fellow Conservative,
Are you worried about America’s future? Some say America has gone too far down the path of big government and redistribution to return to our freedom-loving roots. But remember, many Americans felt similar despair in the late 1970s. Then Ronald Reagan changed everything. He used conservative ideas to turn the country around. If you came of age before 1980, you experienced America’s revival firsthand. Young people lack this experience, so they are vulnerable to the distortions and lies advanced by the Left.
The Left wants you to believe you are powerless—that there is no hope for you to affect the hearts and minds of young people. But you know, through your support of Young America’s Foundation, that reaching young people during their formative years sparks decades of activism for our cause. We have a successful formula for reaching high school and college students. We simply need to expand our programs to reach young people on an ever-increasing scale. That’s why I’m asking you to please consider including Young America’s Foundation in your estate plans.
You will have peace of mind knowing your estate is under your control, not the government’s. And since YAF is a 501(c)(3) organization, your gift will be tax-exempt. In his farewell address from the White House, Ronald Reagan said, “We made a difference. We made the city stronger, we made the city freer, and we left her in good hands. All in all, not bad, not bad at all.” Let me suggest that including Young America’s Foundation in your estate plans is an ideal way to “make a difference.”
I urge you to ask your attorney to update your will to include a bequest to Young America’s Foundation. You can contact Young America’s Foundation’s expert planned giving team at 800-USA-1776 at any time. We are happy to help you. Thank you and God bless you.
Sincerely,
Governor Scott Walker
President, Young America’s Foundation
Order your Legacy & Estate Planning Printed Guide
Share the good news that you intend to leave a legacy with Young America’s Foundation’s team. Please call 800-USA-1776 to receive the benefits of Ranch in the Sky Legacy Society membership.
Or, click here to download and fill out the Making a Difference enrollment form below and mail to:
Young America’s Foundation
11480 Commerce Park Drive
Sixth Floor
Reston, VA 20191
Call your estate planning attorney to make an appointment. If you do not have an attorney, please contact YAF to request the name of a conservative attorney in your area.
Share this bequest language with your attorney: I give, devise, and bequeath to Young America’s Foundation, tax identification number 23-7042029, 11480 Commerce Park Drive, Sixth Floor, Reston, Virginia 20191 [insert amount, percentage, or remainder of estate] to be used for educational purposes (or to support the Reagan Ranch). You can get a head start on your meeting by beginning to fill out Young America’s Foundation’s Estate Planning Workbook. Please call 800-USA-1776 or fill out the form above to request a copy of this valuable resource.
A. To help Protect Your Legacy.
Sharing your documentation with Young America’s Foundation could protect your legacy.
Sadly, before we began asking members of the Ranch In The Sky Legacy Society to share documentation of their estate gifts, we witnessed the legacies of several great conservatives jeopardized by decisions made by third parties. In each of these cases, there were foreseeable problems with the language or structure of the estate plans. If our team had had the opportunity to review these plans in advance, we could have alerted these supporters to problems. Advance review of their plans could have protected their intent and avoided costly litigation.
Dr. Robert Ruhe, a longtime friend, supporter, and member of the Reagan Ranch Board of Governors, confirmed for us that our Legacy Society was incomplete until we offered documentation review. Over the course of many years, Dr. Ruhe had shared his plans to make a substantial estate gift. As soon as we received a copy of Dr. Ruhe’s trust upon his passing, we knew his gift was in jeopardy because his plans involved a third party (a donor advised fund with no history of giving to conservative causes) that was not legally required to honor his clearly-stated intent. Our fears were confirmed when the donor advised fund told us that Young America’s Foundation did not “have a seat at the table” of distribution discussions because they were not required by law to honor Dr. Ruhe’s intent. It took the intervention of two United States Attorneys General-Edwin Meese and John Ashcroft-to convince the donor advised fund to talk with us and ultimately honor Dr. Ruhe’s intent.
Dr. Ruhe’s legacy gift enabled Young America’s Foundation to double our youth outreach programs! This was a huge victory for our students and the Conservative Movement. But it was almost a devastating loss-one that we know Dr. Ruhe would expect us to warn others about.
We appreciate that most conservatives value their privacy. You and other conservatives may be reluctant to share copies of estate plans that you consider to be private. But we know you care deeply about passing on your ideas and you would not want a third party to interfere with your thoughtful plans for your legacy.
That’s why we share Dr. Ruhe’s story with you, and why we invite you to share your documentation with our experienced team. You deserve to have peace of mind about your legacy.
Supporters who share documentation of estate gifts to Young America’s Foundation are enrolled as Executive Members of the Ranch In The Sky Legacy Society. Executive Members receive special recognition: along with having your name listed on Freedom Wall, your name or the name of a loved one will be permanently engraved on a beautiful stone along the Freedom Lake pathway at the Reagan Ranch.