How to: charitable donations via IRA

The Pendleton Foundation Trust has been serving and supporting our community for over ninety years. The Molls’ history in Pendleton started well before the creation of Pendleton Foundation Trust when Cornelius “Gus” Moll moved from Missouri to the Pendleton area with three rowdy boys in the late 1800s. The family was not only involved in ranching, but Gus became Mayor of Pendleton in the early 1900s and the Moll family ran the local UTOCO Oil Company for several years. Two generations later, Dale Moll was born and raised in Pendleton by one of Gus’s rowdy sons. After graduating from Pendleton High School, Dale attended Linfield College to study business, where he met a big city girl from Portland by the name of Shirley Stewart. Shortly after graduating from Linfield, Dale was drafted into the Army and served in Germany, but before he left on his tour of duty, he married Shirley; that was 63 years ago. Shirley was not able to join Dale during his active duty, but after he completed his tour with the Army, Shirley flew to Europe for their belated, but extended honeymoon.

Within days of returning to Pendleton, Dale was offered a job with the US Bank, to which he loyally devoted himself for more than 30 years. In the meantime, Shirley was busy running the household, raising two children, working several jobs, and giving her time to host civic organizations.

During these years in Pendleton, the Molls formed a strong group of friends which they continue to enjoy today. Shirley’s philosophy is to take care of family first, then church and community, and then everything else falls into place. Following this philosophy, the Molls have generously donated not only their time and talents to our community, but they have donated financially as well. By taking advantage of qualified charitable distributions from their IRA accounts, they have made more tax-free dollars available to the local charities that they support. Shirley says she likes to contribute to the Pendleton Foundation Trust because she knows that the PFT Board will do the hard work of investigating how to best use those funds. She is confident that the donations they make to the Pendleton Foundation Trust are well cared for. She said,

“It’s an honor to give to the Foundation; it’s the right thing to do.”