Looking Back, Moving Forward: Bret Bicoy
Photo Provided By Bret Bicoy
Courtney Wentz, Communications & Program Services Director, spoke with past Executive Director, Bret Bicoy, via Zoom to see how the past has influenced our present and will shape our future.
Courtney Wentz: So, will you start by telling me a little bit about your background? What brought you to Marietta? Where are you from? What are you doing now?
Bret Bicoy: I'm originally from Hawaii, of all places. My wife is from Green Bay. I was thinking of going to law school a very long time ago, and I have relatives who live in Wisconsin and I didn't really know them. So, I thought it might be fun to go to law school in Wisconsin. Now, I never did go to law school, but I met my wife. That was six children ago. I went to work for the Green Bay Community Foundation. I think I was the second full-time employee and worked there for several years. We saw some terrific growth. And then my boss came to me and said “The time has come for you to run a foundation of your own. You should see what's out there.” And so I started looking. Bob Kirkbride and the late Bill Thompson… I came across those two good gentlemen. We had some conversations and they brought me down there on a couple of occasions and had a wonderful time. That sort of was what brought us to Marietta.
CW: Wow! That is incredible.
BB: Actually, in those days, the office for the Foundation was at Marietta College.
CW: What was it like being at the College, even though you were a whole different organization?
BB: Weird. I mean, it didn't last very long. I think Bill Thompson did it because Bill was a former Vice President of the College. Did you get a chance to know Bill before he passed?
CW: No, I just know of him.
BB: Bill Sr., Elsa’s husband, was a contemporary of Bob Kirkbride. Bob used to be, I think, the finance director of the College, if you go way back when. Bill had set up an office for Carol Wharff, who had been working there. But it was weird; you were swallowed up in the College. I think it was really valuable for the Community Foundation to get its start because it enabled it to not have to worry about personnel financial issues. You are actually on the payroll of the College. I remember getting a college ID and you get the benefits package of the College. So, in that sense, it was a wonderful thing and it gave you a lot of stability. But, at some point, it was recognized that as valuable as a relationship with the College is, the Foundation becomes seen as an adjunct to the College as opposed to a standalone entity. So that's when we started looking for an office and we got the place on Putnam Street and were there until you guys moved to where you are now.
CW: Where on Putnam Street was the office?
BB: Putnam Street Commons.
CW: Oh, so right across the street!
BB: You could probably throw a football from your front door to where it was. We were in the back part of it. I don't know what it looks like now, but you went in and there was a whole bunch of stores. We turned some of the space in the back into a series of offices. There were three of us. There was me and Judy who worked full time. Carol Wharff worked for us part-time; she ran our grants program. And then we had a lady who worked for us part-time doing some scholarship things.
CW: I understand that you're still in the community foundation sector. So, what is it about community foundations that you like so much?
BB: Well, I think that working for a community foundation is a real privilege. If you fall in love with a place, you have the ability to tend to the body and the soul of the place that you love. I am freed from the limitation of having to only talk about one thing or another. You know, if you're raising money for a college, maybe you're raising money for the athletic department or maybe you're raising money for the English department, but you're still raising money for the College. There's a limit to what you can do. I genuinely can tell folks I have no preference for the human services versus the environment or education versus the arts. It's about what's your passion, what's your enthusiasm, what do you care about? Our job is to connect you with things that make the most sense and allow you to be the most generous. And that's a real joy about it; we're not fundraisers. We're philanthropic advisors. We get to work with people who have means and capacity and help them figure out how to manifest the money into something that's a community good. And that's what's just fun about this work. I love this kind of work.
CW: Speaking of connections, I was actually talking with Johnny Wharff the other day. We were at WMOA and I mentioned that I was going to be talking to you. He said that you were the one who actually started our partnership with WMOA. So why did you think that partnership was important? Why did you want to expand outreach in that direction?
BB: Johnny was terrific and as community-minded as it comes. His station was a wonderful way to communicate to the Marietta community. You know, there are so many other venues, but they’re much bigger than just Marietta. Not that his isn't as well, but it was really Marietta-centric. And, you know, any time you get a chance to tell stories of people being generous, good things happen.
CW: That is very true. So, when we were corresponding via email before this, you mentioned that you’re a part of our legacy society. It seems like Marietta still has a really special place in your heart. Why do you choose to be a part of our legacy society?
BB: Because Jack Moberg will kill me if I take it out of my plan. No, you know, I left Marietta in retrospect for the wrong reasons. I left Marietta for the opportunity to run the Nevada Community Foundation. It was too good of an opportunity not to chase after it. To give you an idea, in the last year I was at the Nevada Community Foundation, our charitable giving that year was around $24M. And for me, it was such an exciting time. But, it’s also easy to forget what you love about small communities. I actually left Nevada because I wanted to come back to somewhere smaller — it's easy to chase the next step on the corporate ladder, it's hard to recognize when you've got something special. My time in Marietta was really just a joy. Jack was always coming over to harass me or the other way around. And he'd sit his butt in one of those purple chairs and pontificate for a while. And, you know, good friends, good, good, good people. My wife was involved with all kinds of mothers. I remember we had our sixth and last child in Marietta, and we couldn't get over how many people kept bringing over food after the birth to feed the other five kids! I remember Bonnie Witten coming over and bringing pies to the house and office. It says something about what makes Marietta special. And it was one of those things that you don't know what you've got until you're not there anymore.
CW: Is there anything that you wish more people knew about the Foundation?
BB: Oh, boy. I wish people recognized and understood that you don’t have to be a multimillionaire to have an impact in our community and to be a philanthropist. We often talk about million-dollar contributions that come in our door. These gifts are a wonderful thing and we should celebrate that kind of generosity, but the reality is, so many people have the ability to be generous at really any level. I mean, ultimately, that's why it's called the Community Foundation. It's the community’s foundation. When I came to Door County, one of the things we wanted to do was raise a few million dollars to endow our own operations. We talked to some of the great philanthropists in our community and told them that they could continue to make seven-figure gifts to their heart's content, but most people can't. So, unless they were going to do all the charitable giving, we need the person who can give $5,000, $10,000, or even $1,000 to have a means and a vehicle for making that type of impact. And that's really what the Community Foundation is about.
CW: Absolutely. I know that I’m not yet able to make a large gift to anywhere, but I know that even giving $5/month helps in the long run.
BB: It really does! The other thing that people don't always recognize is their ability to make a transformational gift through an estate plan. You know, I'm a prime example of it. My capacity to make a charitable gift during my lifetime is certainly not going to be in the tens of thousands of dollars. I don't have that kind of money. I've got six kids; the youngest is a senior in high school, I’ve got some in college and one in law school. But there will come a day when they all are grown up and all living on their own. And we may have the ability to do something truly special when we don't need the assets anymore.
People think planned giving is only for the wealthy, but in many ways, it’s for almost everyone. You know, about 75% of American households make a gift to charity every year. Now, you can't get three-quarters of Americans to agree on anything! I mean, only 60% of Americans brush their teeth twice a day, so the fact that so many give every year is remarkable. And yet, many never look at putting something in their estate plan. Only about 6-8% of estates have a provision for a charitable giving their estate plan. If you think about it, we've got it all backward — if I'm going to make a gift to the Marietta Community Foundation today, well, that means that I'm going to have to make an immediate sacrifice. It means that today maybe I can't take my wife and kids out to dinner because I gave you $100. There's an actual cost. But a gift in my estate plan is the cheapest gift I will ever give because I don't need the money anymore — it's the easiest gift I'll ever make! And frankly, it will be the largest gift that I will ever be able to make. So, putting the Community Foundation in your estate can really be impactful. It allows the ability to do something grander and bigger than you’ve ever done before. And the Community Foundation is a guide in that process. They’re your philanthropic advisor and will help you have the conversation to figure out how to have the impact on the world that you want to have. And that's the power of what you do.
CW: I couldn't agree more! I don't think I have any other specific questions. Is there anything final you'd like to add?
BB: Say hello to everybody down there that I haven't seen in a very long time!
CW: I absolutely will. You've been wonderful to talk to you. Thank you so much!
BB: I'm happy to do so. Take care, be well.
Honor the past and benefit the future — click the button below to make a gift in Bret’s honor.
