08 Apr The gift that keeps giving

In 2018, the Ralph Pickle Estate gave a very generous gift establishing the “Ralph Pickle Endowment for Westview Boys’ Home.” The Pickle family placed this endowment with the Oklahoma City Community Foundation (OCCF). In an endowment, the initial gift stays in the endowment in perpetuity and the income from the gift passes on to Westview annually.

From 1990 until his passing in 2017, Ralph Pickle was a friend and supporter of the young men at Westview. Ralph’s vision was for a gift that would guarantee a cash gift for each young man at his birthday and at Christmas. He wanted the remainder of the funding produced by the endowment to be unrestricted. That means that the Westview team can use these funds to provide for the care of the young men in their care.

Endowments preserve the principal of the money gifted. The OCCF invests these funds to provide 5% income per year to the beneficiary–in this case, Westview Boys’ Home. Investment gains in excess of 5% add to the principal. Over a twenty year period, it is not unusual for the principal to double in size while providing more income than the amount of the initial gift.

The Westview Boys’ Home Endowment

When they established the Pickle Endowment, the Pickle Estate challenged Westview to create the “Westview Boys’ Home Endowment.” They offered to match, up to $100,000.00, other endowment monies we could raise to go into this account. Thus far we have raised $70,000, which the Pickle estate has matched dollar for dollar. The goal is to have a minimum of $200,000 in this fund. As with the Ralph Pickle Endowment, Westview will receive up to 5% of the average fund value as an unrestricted gift every year. The principal of this endowment remains in the care of Oklahoma Community Foundation as well. Friends who wish to learn more about these endowments should contact John Moore, our director of development.

The Westview Foundation

In 1994, Westview Boys’ Home formed the Westview Foundation. As it has grown, it has historically focused its work on four areas: (1) improving Westview Boys’ Home farm and ranch, (2) empowering Westview’s calf program, (3) beautifying Westview’s campus, and (4) assisting Westview alumni with their continuing education. To find out more about the Westview Foundation, please go here.