Katherine Waymire transfers DAF to WFM
Katherine Waymire grew up in a family committed to intergenerational philanthropy. Both her grandfather and father found joy and purpose in giving and strove to pass this value on to future generations. Years ago, her dad started a donor advised fund (DAF) at the Central Indiana Charitable Foundation, in part to involve his children in supporting nonprofits close their hearts.
DAFs are charitable accounts at a foundation that allow donors to recommend grants for the organizations they wish to support, while maximizing tax benefits. At WFM, donors can establish a short-term or a current-use DAF with a minimum balance of $5,000 or an endowed DAF that invests the capital in WFM endowment fund with a minimal balance of $25,000.
Katherine became an advisor for her father’s DAF after she graduated from Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in 1991. Her two sisters were also longtime advisors. The three sisters offered suggestions about grants to be awarded from their father’s DAF.
After receiving her business degree, Katherine moved to the Twin Cities for a job at General Mills, working there until 1997. She and her spouse John Rozman raised their two daughters, Sage and Terra, in Minneapolis.
In 2002, Katherine founded Talisman Designs, initially handmaking and selling wine glass decorators. She remembers staying up until 3 a.m. many nights making the products herself. Eventually she hired people to help create the items. Later she founded Talisman Designs, expanding her product line to kitchen and home products, working with manufacturers in China.
“A few years ago, my dad said to each of us daughters that we could keep one-third of his DAF at the foundation in Indiana, or we could move it to the charitable foundation of our choice,” Katherine explains. “I decided to interview several foundations here, and I chose the Women’s Foundation of Minnesota (WFM) to receive my portion of the transfer.”
She first learned about WFM when the MN Girls Are Not for Sale campaign was underway, an eight-year effort to end sex trafficking in this state. “At the time I was busy with my family and the business I started, so I tucked the information away.”
A few years ago, Katherine was invited to a house party to hear highlights from the Women’s Foundation’s biennial research report on the Status of Women and Girls in Minnesota. “I was so impressed with the research. It is both qualitative and quantitative, done in collaboration with the University of Minnesota. I appreciate that the report drives the focus of WFM’s grant funding and advocacy.”
The Women’s Foundation worked with Katherine to establish a DAF. She explains: “I like the all-in feminism approach supporting women and girls through advocacy and grants. John and I have two daughters, and this focus is important to our family. I like the focus on diversity at WFM, and their unapologetic support of abortion and reproductive justice.”
“Many of my friends have DAFs at large foundations connected to national financial institutions,” Katherine says. “The advantage of establishing a DAF at a community foundation is that staff get to know the local charities. WFM staff advise me about organizations doing good work in areas I care about deeply such as Just the Pill, which provides reproductive care.”
She continues: “If a sudden need arises within a local nonprofit, the foundation staff alert me. I read in the newspaper about an organization that is a grantee of WFM. I asked my contact at WFM to introduce me to them. These layers simply wouldn’t happen with these huge national foundations. I’m amazed at what I have learned through being a WFM donor.”
Three years ago, Katherine sold her business, Talisman Designs. “I’m ready to say ‘yes’ now to other things,” she says. “One place I want to be more involved in is the Women’s Foundation of Minnesota.”
“I am grateful for the legacy of intergenerational giving,” she says. “Just as my dad involved me, I look forward to involving our daughters in our DAF as they get older, and also connecting gifts of money with gifts of time.”
An entrepreneur at heart, Katherine remains president of Katnip Designs, LLC.
Get Involved
To learn more about DAFs or supporting charitable organizations across Minnesota that center women and girls+ through a donor advised fund, please contact Polina Montes de Oca at 612-236-1834 or polina@wfmn.org.
