HomeMy Public PortalAboutTOL PR 2018-12-28 TBL Endowment Foundation
Town of Leesburg
News Release
For Immediate Release
December 28, 2018
Media Contact:
Betsy Arnett, Public Information Officer
barnett@leesburgva.gov 703-771-2734
Leesburg Town Council Passes Administration of Thomas Balch
Library Endowment Fund to Foundation
Thomas Balch Library Endowment Foundation in process of seeking status as
tax-exempt charity.
Leesburg, VA (December 28, 2018) – When long-time library volunteer Virginia L. Bowie passed
away in 2008, she bequeathed over $600,000 to the Thomas Balch Library. In 2013, the Town
created an endowment fund from the Bowie bequest, to provide grants for research using the
library’s collections, to support public programs on genealogy and local history, and to expand
the library’s internationally-recognized collections. Since the time of the Bowie bequest,
another dedicated volunteer, Diane Monica Lee, bequeathed almost $150,000 to the Thomas
Balch Library. The endowment fund now holds over $900,000 dedicated to the purposes of the
Thomas Balch Library.
To provide separate investment and management of the fund, the Town established the
Thomas Balch Library Endowment Foundation as a separate Virginia nonprofit corporation. At
its December 11, 2018, meeting, the Leesburg Town Council approved the foundation’s Articles
of Incorporation and Bylaws, clearing the way for the foundation to take over administration of
the library endowment fund and to accept gifts and bequests . The foundation anticipates that
gifts to it will be tax-deductible according to normal charity rules; but until 501(c)(3) status is
received, donors may wish to direct their gifts to the Town of Leesburg, earmarked for the
Thomas Balch Library Endowment Fund.
According to Alexandra S. Gressitt, director of the Thomas Balch Library and foundation board
member, the foundation has begun the process of seeking IRS recognition as a 501(c)(3) tax-
exempt charity. In addition to Gressitt, the foundation’s board includes the Honorable Thomas
D. Horne (president); James H. Hershman, Jr.; Ron Rust, Esq.; and Keith Troxell, Esq.
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