“The idea is not to live forever, but to create something that will” -Andy Warhol

This gentleman, Dorian “Pete” Cordes, passed away last year. He made the Mandan Public Schools the primary beneficiary of his retirement savings, totaling $345,000. The gift established the Arnold E. Larson Memorial fund, which provides for a yearly $10,000 instrumental music scholarship. Arnold E. Larson was the Mandan High School music instructor. Creating the scholarship fund through his legacy gift was a way memorialize an inspirational teacher, friend and mentor.

You may be asking yourself, how does this relate to the Homer Foundation? Arnold Larson was the father of Peter Larson, late husband of our very own board member, Flo Larson. Flo, also from North Dakota, can attest to the large impact this scholarship will have on the students of Mandan.

Here at the Homer Foundation, we hear stories like these and want to share them with the world. We know that our philanthropic work could not happen without donors who have a mind for the future. This story is a reminder that a planned gift is a simple way to provide a lasting legacy to your community. The Homer Foundation stands ready to help you fulfill your philanthropic goals and invite you to join our Legacy Society so we can highlight your generosity and hopefully inspire others to leave a lasting legacy to their community through the Homer Foundation to ensure a healthy and vibrant community for future generations.

Our pursuit at the foundation is to generate donors with similar interests to sustain the funds endowed to us which we then strive to connect to community needs. Through the legacy society, we are providing security for our future needs. We look forward to working with donors inspired by Dorian Cordes and including philanthropic ideals into their estate planning.