Donor Profile: Pam and Allen Rozelle
Living Landscape Initiative
Prompts Generous Gift

June 10, 2011

Three things were important to Pamela and Allen Rozelle in finding a place to spend their retirement: friends, family and a nice climate. For Pamela, a former political consultant from Boston and an avid walker, beautiful open spaces and parkland were also a must. For Allen, a retired teacher from Geneva, Switzerland, and a passionate golfer, plenty of 18-hole courses were high on the list. Both found what they were looking for in the Pasatiempo neighborhood above Santa Cruz. "We came, we saw and it conquered us," Pamela says of their home of the past three years.

Deeply appreciative of the unparalleled beauty and abundant natural resources surrounding Santa Cruz, the couple began looking for a way to give back. They found it one day reading an article about the Living Landscape Initiative in the Santa Cruz Sentinel. An effort started this spring by five leading conservation organizations, the Initiative has put forth an aggressive goal to protect 80,000 acres in and around Silicon Valley over the next 20 years.

"We were impressed by the cooperative aspects of the project and galvanized by the $15 million commitment put forward by the Moore Foundation," Pamela says. With some securities destined for charity in their wills, news of the Initiative moved them to reexamine their giving plans. "A charitable gift annuity actually offered a higher yield than our current investments, plus tax deductions," says Pamela. "How could we say no to doing well by doing good?" So the Rozelles gave a $100,000 charitable gift annuity to each of the five organizations in the Living Landscape Initiative for a total gift of $500,000.

"Having worked in politics for a long time, I'm very conscious of the pressures that undermine open land," Pamela says. "I saw time and time again all kinds of wonderful, government-based programs that were wiped out by the next election. That experience taught me that you have to invest a lot of time, energy, and money if you have it, in those groups that are going to be able to withstand the tides of political change."

"A charitable gift annuity actually offered a higher yield than our current investments, plus tax deductions, How could we say no to doing well by doing good?"  – Pamela Rozelle