A little bit of their own legacy

⚠ Case Study for Endow ⚠

“When cancer touches you personally — it might be yourself, a family member, a friend or a neighbor — it provides an opportunity for you to think about how you might give back,” David Hopkins says.

A family member’s illness several years ago inspired David and his wife, Sally, to create the MD Anderson Cancer Center James B. & Marie R. Baker and David & SaraAnne Hopkins Research Endowment for Multiple Myeloma. Aware that research into rare cancers (such as multiple myeloma) does not receive the same generous funding as research for more common cancers, the Hopkins family decided to direct their gift in the hope that additional funding would accelerate research in this area.

“This is where we thought our few dollars at the time could grow and actually do some good,” Sally says.

A percentage of the endowment fund is released to MD Anderson each year, while the majority is invested so it can continue to grow.

“We were looking for a little bit of our own legacy from the standpoint of what difference we could make in the world,” David says. “This is an opportunity for us to put something out there that does perpetuate itself, and as a result of that, we live on a little bit.”

Recognizing that even small gifts add up to make an impact, David and Sally hope that donors who don’t have sufficient assets to create their own endowments will help make a difference by contributing to the Hopkinses’ or other established funds.