Leaving a Legacy: Eileen Ruebsam
Leaving a Legacy: Eileen Ruebsam
“I’m ok, so everybody should be ok.” That was the mantra that Eileen Ruebsam lived by, according to her son, Mike. Eileen passed away in 2018 having never established a fund or even made a donation to London Community Foundation, but she was watching us keenly and felt strongly about what we do. “She followed LCF for a long time and believed in what you are doing and wanted to help; “She wasn’t able to distribute funds or put in the governance like you’re able to do, and that’s what she trusted. She believed in you and thought that you were one of the better avenues to go down.”
Imagine our surprise then, when we found out that Eileen had left us over $1.9 million of unrestricted money towards our Community Fund in her will.
“When we grew up we had a lot of opportunities. She gave quite a bit to people that did not have the opportunities that we had, and that meant a lot to her. You help out where you can, you do what you can, and you do the best that you can. I think that was pretty much the way she wanted things to go,” Mike told us.
Eileen helped plenty of people during her life through financial contributions, “she was pretty good with a chequebook and would fire off maybe a one-time donation or a ten-year donation or a monthly gift. She would always help financially if she could,” Mike told us. She tried to help people from all walks of life as well, “she helped the Indigenous, she helped the homeless, she helped people suffering from mental anguish, and she helped a lot at the churches.”
When we speak to organizations about their funding models and the problems that come with them, common stressors include short-term support that can’t always be counted on going forward, and restricted giving that makes the running of the organization less flexible. The trust-based philanthropy Eileen displayed in both her sustained and unrestricted giving shows just how ahead of her time Eileen was. Even supporting people struggling with their mental health, an issue that has really come to the fore in the time and events since Eileen’s passing, shows her open-minded and forward-thinking approach to philanthropy.
As well as leaving a large gift to LCF, Mike told us that his mum made sure she didn’t leave out the other organizations that meant so much to her during her life;
“She’s given some to the church and other charities way up in Northern Ontario. She would go to some of these programs and make sure she covered a lot of bases. There was an Indigenous organization that she helped out in Northern Ontario, and we all hear about the unclean drinking water, and I think it hit her pretty hard that people today are still living like that.”
Eileen’s commitment to making people happy showed in her volunteering work too. “She was a worker,” Mike told us, “With boy scouts, she was one of those moms!” One of the organizations that meant a lot to Eileen was St. Joseph’s Hospital, where she spent 27 years as a volunteer. “Volunteering with various organizations was one of the biggest parts of her life. That brought her a lot of happiness, but I think there was a level of happiness beyond that where she could make others happy,” Mike said.
Donations that go towards LCF’s Community Fund or a named Community Fund like Eileen's, provide a pool of unrestricted money for the community that allows the foundation to deploy it where its needed most, including impact investing and loans to support affordable housing stock. LCF’s endowment model means that Eileen’s bequest will still be making a difference many generations down the line, which Mike said was important for to her;
“She was never one to wave a flag and say “see what I did?” If anything she was more of a placard-on-a-tree person, leaving it to anyone and their dog who passed by to notice it., so the longevity of how you do things was important to her… …but if there’s any legacy out there, making others happy, I think, is her legacy.”
By leaving a gift in will with London Community Foundation, Eileen committed to ensuring that her legacy will remain sustainable, dependable, and forward-thinking, just as her philanthropy was in life. This means that Eileen will forever be doing what Mike thinks was most important to his mom - making others happy.