Author Archives: Bret Bicoy

During a recent drive to visit one of our children, my wife and I found ourselves scanning the radio to find something interesting to pass the time.  While I’m not normally a fan of talk radio, we stumbled upon a program that piqued my interest.  The host and his guest were discussing the state ofContinue reading “It’s Not About the Tax Deduction”

The whole business model of banking is when you send money out, you’re supposed to bring even more money back in.  A loss is precisely what the banker is trying to avoid.  Thus it’s a bit ironic that the Door County Community Foundation recently honored Tom and Jill Herlache, members of Door County’s most iconicContinue reading “Enriching Ourselves Through Giving”

Several decades ago, in a community far away from our beloved Door County, I once was involved in raising money to renovate a local neighborhood center. I was giving a tour to one of that community’s great philanthropists when an old woman came up to me, stuffed a pledge envelope in my hand, then hurriedContinue reading “We All Can Be Philanthropists”

Even if you don’t follow the trends in the philanthropic world as obsessively as I do, there’s a good chance that you’ve heard about of MacKenzie Scott.  As most of us know, Ms. Scott has been giving to charity from her Amazon.com wealth at a record pace. Three years ago, Ms. Scott signed the “GivingContinue reading “Making $12 Billion Worth More than $12 Billion”

The late Howard Baker, Jr. was a giant of Republican politics.  He served for nearly twenty years as the U.S. Senator from Tennessee, achieving the role of Senate Majority Leader and ultimately as the right hand of President Ronald Reagan as White House Chief of Staff.  In his obituary in 2014, the Washington Post describedContinue reading “Door County Comes Together to Rebuild a Nation”

I read something truly fascinating the other day which is indicative of a troubling trend in our nation.  Over the last 50 years, in all the books published in the United States, the frequency of the word “I” has doubled. This fact comes from Robert Putnam’s book, The Upswing:  How America Came Together a CenturyContinue reading “The Problematic Shift from the We to the I”

As many a commercial tells us this time of year, “Tis the season of giving.”  While those advertisers want us to think Christmas is about generosity, their idea of “giving” is for us to go out and buy something. While many of us are still digesting our Thanksgiving turkey, Black Friday will begin in theContinue reading “Tis the Season of “Giving””

My wife Cari teaches third grade in a public school in downtown Green Bay. You’d be hard pressed to identify a more wonderfully diverse group of kids anywhere in Wisconsin. In her classroom you’ll find the children of immigrant families from Mexico. Many of her students are the kids of Somalian refugees. Several others areContinue reading “Cari’s Holiday Store”

The S&P 500 has hit a new all-time high more than 50 times this year.  The good news is that there is a way for you to avoid some capital gains taxes, earn a substantial tax deduction, and do a tremendous amount of good for the community you love.  Consider using some of your highlyContinue reading “Maximizing Your Charitable Deduction”

Several years ago, one of my children wanted to participate in a Rotary Youth Exchange and spend a year of high school studying overseas in Chile.  As one of six children, he knew that his parents were more focused on paying for college than giving him money to live in another country.  Thus, our sonContinue reading “Crowdfunding Fails Those in Greatest Need”