In Lawrenceville there is a house divided. It is not a political party division, nor one of marital discord, but is of a graver circumstance.....Julie Toland Reynolds (BSHE ’81), an ardent Bulldog supporter is married to David Reynolds, a Georgia Tech graduate of 1970. Nevertheless, the Reynolds have found a way to live happily during 21 years of marriage. They just agree on those isolated occasions when the two sports teams meet that they will each wear their respective school colors. They also agree that when it comes to their estate plans, each university will be represented.

Julie earned her degree in Furnishings & Interiors and owns Reynolds Interiors, Inc., a residential and commercial design firm serving Atlanta and the Southeast. David, an aerospace engineer, works for Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Division after retiring from The Coca-Cola Company. Earlier in her career, Julie worked for a home furnishings store when then-single David became a client. Although she steadfastly refused to date clients, David won her over as he still does today. They brought to their marriage, however, a fierce loyalty to each alma mater. The two have been UGA FACS Presidents Club members for several years where David maximizes his giving through a 2:1 matching gifts program from The Coca-Cola Company. According to data collected in 1990, women were the philanthropic decision makers in only 32 percent of American households. Julie and David’s joint decision-making follows a trend of women becoming more financially involved in household affairs.

Although they were financial supporters for several years, they hadn’t been directly involved in College activities prior to 2004. Julie attended the inaugural FACS Designing Dawgs meeting in January and as a result now attends several College functions. She even brought David to the FACS Presidents Club function in April when the UGA Diamond Dawgs took on Arkansas. At this event, I encouraged donors to consider becoming Heritage Society members by confirming a planned gift. Julie and David already knew they wanted to remember their universities and invited me to come visit with them about their options. They said, “We never realized the importance of sharing our plans with our universities. By doing so, we can count our deferred giving in campaigns today, we can decide how the money should be used rather than someone deciding for us when we’re gone, and we develop wonderful relationships in the process.”

Julie and David have designated a percentage of their estate rather than a dollar amount to our College to support furnishings & interiors. “I loved my experience in Dawson Hall at UGA and having no children of my own, this is a way to give back to a future generation,” said Julie. David also initiated talks with the office of development at Georgia Tech regarding a similar planned gift. David reported, “The development officer at Tech said they would never have believed that they would owe UGA a thank you for booking a gift.”

Though there are many planned giving options, David and Julie chose the traditional will instrument for making their charitable gifts. By providing a copy of the page designating the College of Family and Consumer Sciences in one’s will the donor becomes a member of the UGA and FACS Heritage Societies. This Society recognizes donors who have left a gift of any size to our College through an estate gift.

In my years as Director of Development for the College of Family and Consumer Sciences, I’ve noticed that more couples are equally donating to their charities of interest, rather than only recognizing those charities important to the husband. Given a historically large female alumni base, this has made a huge difference in giving to our College. Andrea Kaminski, former Executive Director of The Women’s Philanthropy Institute said, “Just as women are more conservative investors than men, they are also more conservative givers. Many of us were brought up to believe that giving of our time and talent is the most effective way to contribute. But, while our intangible gifts are powerful currency, women who balance their philanthropic efforts with well thought-out financial gifts are changing the world in ways their mothers and grandmothers never dreamed possible.”

Sustaining our future is the most sound investment we can make today. Thanks to our own Bulldog Julie and to her “Tech Man,” David, for their investment in FACS!