Small-town life isn’t for everyone. If you grew up in a small town like Marietta, you know all too well the urge to move as high school and college friends begin to spread their wings and migrate for the fortune, culture, and faster pace of city life. Some, however, seek out the small-town experience precisely for the unique opportunities it provides.
This is exactly the case for Marietta Community Foundation board member, Ryan Elliott.
When Ryan graduated from The Ohio State University and chose to become a financial advisor, he decided the connections he had growing up in Marietta would make it the perfect place to start his business. Upon his return, he found that the small-town feel he was looking for had gotten even smaller.
“I graduated from Marietta High School in ’95 with a class of three hundred seniors and today the graduating class is somewhere around two fifteen,” he said. “Marietta was bigger, now we’re smaller, and we need to make some adjustments as a community if we are to sustain our way of life and begin to grow again. Small towns are not for everyone, but there are some things we are lacking to even have a seat at the table.”
Alongside growing his business, Ryan immediately began to look for ways to make a difference.
“My mom and dad were always helping people and volunteering when and wherever they saw a need in the community,” he said. “They raised me to be a doer — to always be aware of what is happening around me and what I can be doing to make things better.”
Not only has he wholeheartedly adopted these values, but he also makes it a personal point to always think bigger.
“I love Marietta. I loved growing up here,” he said. “My friends and I still say – even those friends who no longer live here — that nobody in America had a better time growing up than we did. I want my daughters to have the same kinds of experiences I had, and I want this for my grandchildren and their children as well.”
One of the ways Ryan works to enhance the bigger picture is to support Marietta Community Foundation through its 1788 Legacy Society by naming the Foundation as a beneficiary of his life insurance policy.
Named for the year Marietta was founded by the Ohio Company of Associates as the first settlement in the Northwest Territory, the mission of the 1788 Legacy Society is to endow the future of Washington County to preserve its unique culture, history, and tradition; and to honor those who support its future by including the Foundation in their estate plans.
“I chose to support the Foundation in part because of a conversation with past Marietta Community Foundation Executive Director Carol Wharff who was a good friend of my parents,” Ryan said. “I was particularly impressed that they cover virtually every aspect of philanthropy in Washington County. I was 24 years old, didn’t have much in the way of assets, and no family of my own at the time, and thought if something did happen to me I like the idea of others benefitting from that and turning a negative into a positive.”
As he became more involved, joining the Foundation’s Finance Committee in 2015 and the full Board of Directors in 2018, Ryan became increasingly convinced of its strategic importance to the future of Marietta.
“I’m a big fan of unrestricted giving, which allows the Foundation to direct money to areas of greatest need,” he said. “We don’t have any idea what the needs of the community will be fifty or a hundred years down the road, and I trust that due diligence will be done on the part of the Foundation in addressing the needs of the community long after I’m gone.”
He is also convinced that Marietta Community Foundation is here to stay — a true, permanent cornerstone of philanthropy in Washington County.
“As a member of the board, I’ve seen the due diligence they pay in vetting the organizations they support,” he said. “We ensure that these organizations are bringing a lot of sweat equity in terms of volunteers, that they are bringing matching funds and have a good plan for the money. I am fully confident that the investment I make today will continue to support Marietta far into the future.”
“I am fully confident that the investment I make today will continue to support Marietta far into the future.”
Marietta Community Foundation invests unrestricted gifts in its Community Impact Fund, which directs money to areas of greatest need.
While his primary focus at present is family, raising his four daughters, coaching and growing his business, Ryan has many big ideas he would like to see happen in Marietta, including a recreation center fully dedicated to seniors.
As a Wealth Management Advisor for Northwestern Mutual, he also encourages his clients to think bigger, to map out the priorities they value most, and to find a way to make things happen in the long term.
“Naming the organizations you value as beneficiaries of your life insurance is a tremendous way to have a big impact on the community in the future with a relatively small investment in the present,” he said.
“I tell my clients, ok, so you die at ninety and leave your entire estate to your sixty-five-year-old kids who are already doing well for themselves. Sure, that’s welcome money for them, but how does it support the community you’ve helped to build in the longer term?”
“Marietta needs people right now who are willing to become involved, get their hands dirty and work to better our community,” he said. “We are going to need everyone to leave a little money if we want to sustain and grow this town for future generations, and establishing a legacy through Marietta Community Foundation is an excellent way to make this happen.”
Marietta Community Foundation works to improve Washington County through grants and initiatives. If you would like to establish a legacy that will last forever, please contact Heather Allender at 740-373-3286 or heather@mcfohio.org.