A Legacy Comes to Life, with Help from a Friend

Bob Jones was many things to many people: A successful businessman. A caring brother and uncle. A thoughtful friend. Bob was also a generous man, and while he never married or had children of his own, he thought deeply in the last years of his life about how he could create a legacy that would help other families. That dream is now becoming reality with help from the Minneapolis Foundation—and an old friend.

Joe Lawver, who was also Bob’s longtime business attorney, has worked diligently to bring his friend’s goals to life. In conversations that began before Bob’s death, the two men worked with the Foundation to create a structure for his philanthropy. After Bob passed away in 2022, Joe carried on with guidance from the Foundation’s Philanthropic Advisors.

Today, evidence of Bob’s generosity is taking root throughout the community. This spring, Children’s Minnesota announced a $3 million commitment from the Robert M. Jones Fund of the Minneapolis Foundation. The fund has made multi-year pledges to another half-dozen nonprofits, and last year distributed more than $2 million to organizations focused on health, human services, food access, and youth development. All told, Joe has mapped out a plan to distribute more than $10 million over the next three years.

“This grantmaking is a textbook example of how the Foundation can support fundholders through the entire arc of a giving journey,” said Bill Sternberg, a Philanthropic Advisor who stewards the Robert M. Jones Fund. The Foundation guided Bob, and then Joe, through every step of the process: Crafting a mission statement. Selecting community issues to focus on. Researching nonprofits and meeting with their teams to figure out where additional funding could be transformational. “I truly think that when you do it this way, you get better outcomes,” Bill said.

Bill Sternberg, Christine Barrett, and Joe Lawver at Children’s Minnesota

The work that Joe is doing as a trustee of Bob’s estate marks the last chapter of a friendship that began more than 50 years ago. The two men went to high school together and had a shared group of friends at the University of Minnesota. After Joe earned a law degree, Bob retained him to provide counsel on a variety of business projects, including a bar called Hubert’s in downtown Minneapolis that he had an ownership interest in for many years.

A few years ago, Bob told Joe he wanted to do some estate planning and get more serious about his charitable giving. Bob had always been generous, Joe explained, but he had never had much structure around his giving. He supported causes his family cared about, and he was the kind of guy who, if anyone wrote and asked him for money, would sit down and write a check.

So Joe introduced Bob to Josh Hillger, a law firm partner who specializes in estate planning. Josh connected them with the Minneapolis Foundation, where they established the Robert M. Jones Fund.

“I think there’s a lot of benefit to working with a community foundation,” said Josh, who has referred other clients to the Foundation over the years. Setting up a fund enabled Bob to give in a way that was “more focused, more thoughtful, and frankly, easier for him to do.”

Josh encouraged Bob to take the fund for a test drive by using it to manage his regular annual gifts. Within a year, “I think he saw how easy it was, and that the Foundation could pick up some of the administrative aspects for him.”

Looking forward, Bob wanted a trusted friend to manage his estate giving, and he wanted to make sure those future gifts would help people, even if community needs changed over time. Giving through the Foundation also helped him achieve those goals.

By making plans together, Bob’s advisors were able to get a clear sense of his philanthropic vision. When Bob passed away, Joe became a trustee of his estate and advisor to the Robert M. Jones Fund. Then he and the Foundation got to work creating a road map to achieve Bob’s goals.

“His vision guided us every step of the way, whether we were discussing his areas of interest or meeting with nonprofit partners,” said Christine Barrett, a Manager of Engagement at the Foundation who works with Joe.

The relationships that the Foundation has helped Joe build with grant partners have been critical to uncovering opportunities to make a difference. “That’s how I’m able to really tailor something that fits Bob’s interests,” he said. For example, one project will help Children’s Minnesota provide world-class care to patients who need heart surgery. Sometimes when Joe is talking with a nurse or medical director, he imagines how his friend would feel if he could hear about the good work he’s supporting. “I know Bob would have been proud to sit there and say, ‘Look at this.’”