Collaboration

The Friend of the Foundation Award recognizes philanthropic individuals, families or businesses whose innovative and collaborative leadership and consistent generosity have impacted the Sioux Falls area and those who call it home.

For the team at the Community Foundation, the words innovative, collaborative, leadership and generous all came to mind when we sat down to describe our 2019 Friend of the Foundation Award honorees, Bill and Lorrae Lindquist.

Today, Bill serves as a senior financial advisor for The Lindquist Group, a division of Merrill Lynch Wealth Management. He also holds the Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor (CRPC) designation from the College of Financial Planning.

A certified public accountant, now retired from practice, Lorrae is an active community volunteer. She currently serves as president of the Sioux Falls Parks and Recreation Board.

Together, Bill and Lorrae have dedicated their time, their talents and their treasure to help make the Sioux Falls area an even better place to live, work and play.

“We extend our thanks and gratitude to Bill and Lorrae – two people who are truly champions for our community – for giving of themselves through philanthropy,” said Andy Patterson, president of the Sioux Falls Area Community Foundation. “Bill and Lorrae are a community-minded couple who are deeply passionate about improving the quality of life for those in our area. It’s our privilege to honor them with the Friend of the Foundation Award.”

Lifetimes of Service & Collaboration

Throughout his career, Bill has been an active and engaged community volunteer. He’s served on boards for the YMCA, the Helpline Center, Augustana University, the South Dakota Symphony and the Children’s Home Society of South Dakota Foundation, just to name a few.

His own community involvement, he said, has enabled him to offer his clients insight on community needs. It also spurs additional philanthropic support for important and meaningful causes throughout the area.

“In my role, one thing I do early on with clients is ask, ‘What’s important to you? What motivates you? What do you want your money to do for you outside of taking care of yourself and your family – what are the things and organizations that you love?’” he said. “From a financial perspective, we then talk about how to maximize a gift to either give more, or to make it the best financial decision possible.”

When it comes to helping clients maximize or streamline their giving, Bill often refers clients to the Sioux Falls Area Community Foundation.

“It’s a fun thing to be able to give people an opportunity to do something significant that can last a long time. The long-term viability for your money to do something forever – that’s the story of the Sioux Falls Area Community Foundation,” he said. “It’s giving people a chance to have their wealth – whatever that amount is – do something now and in perpetuity.”

Growing up in a small town, Lorrae saw her parents as role models for community engagement and the importance of giving back.

“My parents were part of the business community so they served on a lot of community boards,” she said. “So I saw early on the importance of giving back to your community and being involved in your community.”

Those early lessons stayed with Lorrae. Like her husband, she, too, has been an active community volunteer.

It was during her time with Junior League that Lorrae first began to collaborate with the Community Foundation. Serving as vice president, she and others began the work to establish an endowment at the Foundation.

“It’s a big leap of faith for nonprofits to give a portion of their money to the Foundation, but it’s worth it,” she explained. “I look at the small- to medium-sized nonprofits here – they simply don’t have the ability to administer an endowment fund on their own. They don’t have the legal expertise or the reporting expertise – so to do so on their own, the costs would be astronomical. There would be a huge void here without the Community Foundation.”

Beyond their civic volunteerism, Bill and Lorrae are also active philanthropists, supporting a number of nonprofit organizations and causes throughout the area. Their giving, Patterson said, has inspired philanthropy in others – supporting what he sees as a growing culture of giving, engagement and care throughout our community.

It’s a movement toward creating a brighter future for our community – and it’s gaining momentum.

“What I love about our city is that it’s not just one small group of people who are making things happen – a lot of people are involved in trying to build a better tomorrow,” Lorrae said. “And whatever your passion is, there’s someone who shares it with you.”