SAN FRANCISCO OPERA
Vo l u m e I • S p r i n g 2 0 1 3
YOUR OPERA
Photo by Kristen Loken
Estate, Financial & Gift Planning Ideas for San Francisco Opera Patrons
PROFILE
Giving to Future Generations
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“We hope our legacy gift might provide an example for others to follow.”
ears ago if you’d told me that I’d become an opera lover, I would have called you crazy,” laughs Ina Bauman. Her husband Steve concurs. “I loved opera and classical music from an early age. But Ina kept saying she didn’t like opera. I had to wear her down.” “Finally I agreed,” Ina says. “We saw Tosca. It was all over. I fell in love. We subscribed immediately.” The Baumans have been subscribers for over twenty years. “San Francisco Opera became part of our lives, a place to see friends and enjoy special evenings,” Steve remarks. Tellingly, the Company’s outreach activities are close to Ina’s heart. “I love events like Opera in the Park and Opera at the Ballpark,” she explains. “I know that if I’d been exposed to opera at an earlier age, I would have fallen in love with it sooner.” Like most subscribers, the Baumans make regular annual contributions. “As much as we love the Opera, we’ve never been huge donors,” Ina observes. By including San Francisco Opera in their will through a bequest, they’re helping to ensure the Company’s future. “As we looked at our estate, we saw that we were supporting medical, religious, and other ‘do good’ causes,” Ina continues. “We wanted to strike a balance. And so we thought about things that are
Ina and Steve Bauman included a bequest in their will to help ensure the Company’s future.
both meaningful and have brought us pleasure. The Opera was an obvious choice.” “We’re at a time of life when we can reflect on meaning and humanity. Opera, like any great art, civilizes us, immerses us in community and culture,” Steve points out. “Our membership in the Bel Canto Legacy Society isn’t a matter of being recognized. But we do hope it might provide an example for others to follow.” “Why did we do it? Do you know ‘Honi and the Carob Tree’?” Ina smiles, referencing a Talmudic parable about a tree that takes seventy years to bear fruit: the planter does not benefit from the planting, but future generations do. Echoing that sentiment, Steve remembers, “My mother used to say, ‘Leave your room nicer than you found it.’ She wasn’t just talking about a room.”