Join The Gates Society

A Planned Giving Community

You can provide for your heirs through your estate plan and create a lasting legacy for the Valley. Your planned gift will impact what you are passionate about and make a difference regardless of the amount. The Gates Society is the Valley Community Foundation’s (VCF’s) planned giving community.

Joining is simple. All it takes is for someone to let us know that they plan to remember VCF in their estate, regardless of the fund, amount or percentage.

The Society is named in honor of Ross and Frank Gates, brothers of the last generation of a prominent Derby family, who created trusts in their family name to benefit charitable causes they were passionate about. The trusts established The Gates Fund with our partner in philanthropy, The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, and specified that in the selection of beneficiaries due consideration be given “…to the benefit of the inhabitants in the vicinity of Derby, Connecticut…” Created over a half a century ago, the Gates Fund continues to distribute substantial resources for the benefit of Valley communities, and beyond.

Today, a person doesn’t need to set up a trust to support a charitable cause after their lifetime. Whether your gift is endowed or for current use, there are many ways to establish a legacy of giving forever by making a planned gift using the Valley Community Foundation as a partner.