The Sullivan Family Fund – A Legacy Donor Advised Fund that Keeps on Giving

If you live in Anne Arundel County, chances are you knew the late Carolyn Sullivan. The powerful force behind PR People, her public relations company, Carolyn was active in almost every corner of the county until her untimely death in 2019.

“Everybody, everyone, knew my mother,” said her daughter Kristen Sullivan. “Her imprint will forever be in the community. She did a lot of work with nonprofits – a lot of paid and unpaid work. The number of hours she spent doing volunteer work kind of overlapped with paid work.”

Carolyn volunteered with several Anne Arundel County nonprofits, including the Community Foundation of Anne Arundel County, assisting for 13 years with Marketing and PR efforts for CFAAC’s annual Celebration of Philanthropy Awards event. But her passion was for the work she did with Anne Arundel Conflict Resolution Center (AACRC), where she was deeply involved for over a decade.

Leaving a legacy was important to Carolyn, so she strategized with her attorneys and CFAAC’s staff to ensure that her estate plan reflected her philanthropic intentions.

In a bequest, she named a fund at CFAAC and designated Kristen, and Joanna, her daughters, as the fund’s advisors. Upon her death, the planned gift from Carolyn’s estate to CFAAC was used to establish the Sullivan Family Charitable Fund.

Kristen and her sister Joanna were surprised to learn that Carolyn left the decision making to them. They had the ability to select the criteria for the fund including what type of impact they wanted to make, what organizations to support, and how they wanted the assets to be invested. After thinking about all of the options, both daughters agreed to endow the assets to support to Anne Arundel County Conflict Resolution Center’s mission of providing mediation, facilitation, and education for the peaceful resolution of conflicts to all who ask.

“She wanted us to have the actual say in it,” said Kristen. “Even though in her heart of hearts she wanted it to go to the Conflict Resolution Center, she wanted us to decide where it went. In the end, there was no other option than the Conflict Resolution Center. And CFAAC was very patient with us throughout the process.”

“Opening the legacy fund with CFAAC was by far the best gift our mother ever gave us because there are so many financial decisions  after death,” added Kristen. “and this was the easiest part.”

Kristen also touted the comfort in working with CFAAC. “Amy [Francis] really understood that we weren’t in a mindset to even think about it at the beginning,” she said. “The Community Foundation gave us the time we needed to comprehend the process. That was a gift that she [Amy] gave us.”

“My folks loved Annapolis and they loved their community,” added Kristen. “Giving back is one of the best things you can do. First, the donation itself will make a giant impact for whatever organization that you are going to donate to – it could be a salary for someone, help to open a new program, change lives. And, doing it through CFAAC, is great because there is so much work when someone dies. It’s not only emotional, but also physical. I tell people if you can create a legacy fund through the Community Foundation, it’s a gift for those of us left behind.”