Beverly and Perry Bendicksen established their fund at the Foundation because they believe it is important to be engaged in making the community a better place. Perry noted that Albuquerque was a very welcoming community when they moved here from New York. and has nurtured them for years. so they feel an obligation to "pay it forward." The Bendicksens have been immersed in the local financial. legal and nonprofit sectors in their professions and volunteer lives in the 30 years that they have lived here. Perry, a corporate attorney, served on the Roadrunner Food Bank board for nearly two decades. Beverly and Perry are both past board chairs ofWESST. Beverly is a past president of the Albuquerque Museum Foundation. where Perry is a current board member.
"We appreciate the fact that the Community Foundation also believes in and supports these organizations and many others through its grant programs," says Beverly, a financial consultant who is a past chair of the Foundation's Investment Committee. and is currently the Foundation Treasurer and Board Trustee. They both appreciate that the Foundation's fund structure enables donors to make decisions about which organizations receive grants while they can, and the Foundation will continue to support worthy nonprofits in the donors· areas of interest when the donors are not able to do so.
"We have been Partners in Philanthropy as volunteers and donors with the Foundation for more than 70 years", says Beverly. "Examples matter and that's why we wanted to show a present commitment to the Foundation," says Perry