When Tim McLarty, C’89, of Southlake, Texas, brought his son, Max, for a campus visit as a prospective student, the McLarty Family took some time in All Saints’ Chapel looking for a chair. “It turned into a kind of Easter egg hunt, says Jana McLarty, Tim’s wife. It wasn’t any chair. It was a chair with a plaque dedicated in honor of Tim that was made possible by a gift from Tim’s father, Paul, to the chapel renovation project twenty years ago. “I wanted Max to see that chair,” says Tim. “I wanted him to understand how giving is part of the McLarty Family story.”
Tim and Jana have been giving themselves most years since Tim’s graduation, and they have helped secure matching
gifts from an employer. Six years ago, they made the commitment to fund a $5,000 Cornerstone Scholarship, which helped a specific Sewanee student afford a Sewanee education.
“We looked forward to reading the thank you letter from the student and knowing they were having a good experience,” says Jana.
In part Tim was motivated to be a contributor by family design, but he also kept up a living connection with Sewanee. “In my career, I relocated a lot—New York, Boston, and then Dallas—and everywhere we went, we were able to make Sewanee connections. We hosted a clam bake on Cape Cod, we saw Jon Meacham speak at the Rockefeller Center, and we reconnected with classmates at every stop. We have both always valued a liberal arts education because it teaches you to write and think, but we have also valued the community.”
Jana, who did not have the Mountain Experience, has long been aware of the importance of that community. Jana. “I have always been so accepted in the community,” she says. “As an outsider looking in, it is clear to me that Sewanee is more than an institution; it’s a community. We hope our children can experience that in their college choices.”
In 2021, the family took a new step in philanthropy and made the decision to endow a named scholarship at Sewanee, which required a more significant contribution. “I always thought that one day I wanted to establish an endowed fund,” says Tim, “and then when Jana went to work for DonateStock, I really began to see the benefits of making a gift in that way.”
Donations of appreciated stock allow the donor to give the University the full value of the stock, and assigning ownership to a tax exempt nonprofit means that no capital gains is paid. “A lot of people own stock out there,” says Tim, “and if you have the opportunity, this is a good way to go.”
Jana sees her work at DonateStock, which helps build contributions through this mechanism as a combination of her interest in business and her philanthropic spirit. “We think we can do a lot of good by raising people’s awareness of the benefits of giving appreciated stock. Having this option allowed our family to establish an endowment, and others can, too.” Jana notes that when nonprofits diversify the source of donated funds, then their donations go up, and the institutions gain strength.
The couple looks forward to many years of connection with Tim’s alma mater and seeing students complete college and go on to productive lives. “I think Tim and Jana are leading by example in their giving,” says Scott Smith, the gift officer who worked with the McLartys on establishing the endowment. “I hope others would be encouraged to do the same.”
Many donors wish to make gifts of stock as such gifts often have tax advantages. To discuss a stock gift, please contact us at stockgift@sewanee.edu or call 931.598.1641.
