Jessica Ehrlichmann joined the St. Croix Valley Foundation (SCVF) board six years ago.
“The board was looking for opportunities to diversify and get some younger members to join,” said Jessica, who is also the Vice President and General Manager of Business Units at Andersen Corporation in Bayport. “It was an opportunity for me to represent not only the Andersen company leadership, but also represent a younger generation on the [SCVF] board.”
During her time as a board member, two highlights stand out to Jessica: getting to know other board members – many of whom she considers community advocates and champions for local nonprofits – and serving on the scholarship committee.
“I was woefully naive about the range of families and communities that we have in the St. Croix Valley,” Jessica admits, “and reading the stories from scholarship students has made such an impression on me.”
Jessica and her husband Brad are also SCVF Legacy Society Members, which means they plan to leave a gift to SCVF as part of their estate. Recently, they had another idea.
“Our interest in cryptocurrency started as a fun thing to do on the side,” said Jessica. “We thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be interesting if this got to be something bigger or more impactful?’ Now that it has grown and evolved, we’ve been asking, ‘What good can we do with this?’”
The pair approached SCVF about donating cryptocurrency – a novel idea to not only the Ehrlichmanns, but also to SCVF and First State Bank and Trust in Bayport. All three entities enthusiastically got on board, learning how to set up a donor advised fund for the Ehrlichmanns using the unique gift.
“That’s where Heather and Chad Fett from First State Bank and Trust really dove in,” said Jessica, noting how smooth the process has been.
Coordinating a custodial transfer process through the bank, Jessica and Brad’s donation has been seamless and will allow them to make annual distributions from the donor advised fund they have now established at SCVF. The Ehrlichmanns plan to keep a finger on the pulse of urgent needs and opportunities within the region to which they could donate.
“Cryptocurrency is volatile, it’s dynamic,” said Jessica, “so converting that currency annually into our donor advised fund gives us a way to secure funds long term. We can give more to the Valley while also supporting the donor relationships we have today.”
Jessica also sees an opportunity for SCVF to engage with a younger group of potential donors.
“I think our opportunity is to appeal to younger generations that have invested in areas like cryptocurrency differently than other generations and found ourselves with a great opportunity to build wealth in a new way,” she said. “This is a way for us to participate with SCVF that hasn’t been accessible until now, so I’m hopeful that it’s a modern way of extending support to the Valley for the bank and for SCVF.”
To learn more about how you can donate cryptocurrency, contact SCVF President and CEO Heather Logelin at hlogelin@scvfoundation.org or 715-386-9490.
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