Mainers urged to endow towns in their wills

Bangor Daily News reports:

A report released Friday urges Mainers to consider including their towns and cities in their wills, thereby helping to create “community legacy” endowments to fund economic development projects.

Maine has the oldest average age in the nation, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. As Maine’s baby boomer population ages, an estimated $29 billion worth of personal wealth will be transferred to the next generation over the next decade.

Seeking to replicate similar initiatives in other states, Maine Rural Partners on Friday launched a campaign encouraging Mainers to “count their communities among their heirs.”

Mainers could do that by writing into their wills donations to community endowments focused on the economic development priorities of local residents. Such investments are even more important at a time when local and state government as well as nonprofits are struggling financially to meet basic needs, much less invest in economic development, supporters said.

They want your money for public pensions one way or another.