For Apryll Nakamura, becoming a philanthropist started with one professor’s kindness. As a young engineering student in the 1970’s, Apryll had to work several jobs and watch every penny to attend UCLA’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. When one of the tools she needed for class, a plastic slide rule, broke before her first final she feared she would fail the test and flunk out of school. Instead, Professor Joseph DiStefano let her use his slide rule – and then told her to keep it.
As Planned Giving Officer, Emily Stork leads CCF’s Sartori Circle program, which recognizes and brings together donors of testamentary gifts who have decided to make a long-term impact on the lives of others through their charitable bequests. Emily works closely with donors to ensure their bequests, whether they include gifts of real estate, closely held stock or other gifts of cash or complex assets, fulfill their philanthropic visions for supporting the causes they care about. Emily also promotes CCF’s gift planning services by developing and deepening relationships with donors, advisors, and nonprofits. Emily brings over 11 years of fundraising experience, a legal background, and a love for Los Angeles County and its fascinating communities to this position.
Do you or your clients have retirement accounts and charitable intent? If they are 70 ½ or older, they can easily make a qualified charitable distribution and get a tax break. For 2023, donors can transfer up to $100,000 directly from their traditional IRA(s) to charity.
People power is one of the most effective tools low-wage workers have in the face of stagnating wages, increasing rents and a crushing cost of living in one of the most expensive cities in the country. Worker activism is not new for the City of Angels. Los Angeles has a history of major wins for disenfranchised workers, including the historic El Monte Thai Garment Slavery Case of 1995. This case was led by garment workers trafficked from Thailand like Rotchana Sussman who worked around the clock and slept in a crowded sweatshop surrounded by barbed wire and paved the path to the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA).