Washburn Named DCEF's 13th

NEW FOUNDER

 

Miles Washburn Miles C. Washburn, "CC"

Massachusetts '87

In December of 2009, Miles Washburn, “CC”, Massachusetts ’87, joined the list of dedicated men who can call themselves a member of the Delta Chi Educational Foundation’s “New Founder”.

Brother Washburn has always been an ardent supporter of Delta Chi. He has long served the fraternity since his graduation from Massachusetts and he saw to it that he was “always doing something every day for Delta Chi.”

 “I was just the average student when I was in school but I learned that some of us average guys could do pretty good things, “ Washburn said. “ The average guy turns out to be a lot better than average at the end of the day.”

With that in mind, Washburn set up a scholarship to award deserving Delta Chi undergraduates. Each year, he added a bit more to his scholarship account. It means that much to him to see that the brothers of Delta Chi succeed.

Washburn decided to take his giving to the highest level – that of New Founder. And he did so in a novel way. Like so many of our Delta Chi alumni, Washburn looked into planned giving. But his planned giving took the form of an irrevocable whole life policy, with the DCEF as the owner and his Washburn Scholarship account as the beneficiary.
“The goal was to make a scholarship big enough so that it would actually award a scholarship immediately. But it is 100% educational.  I wanted to make sure that it could only be used for that student’s educational pursuits.”
In addition to that, I’m looking at this as a needs-based scholarship. Again, I want to make sure that this award was geared toward the average student that doesn’t get recognized & doesn’t get awarded.”
Washburn wants all Delta Chi Alumni to know just how easy it was to start such a policy and he also wants them to know that he made the policy irrevocable so that, in the future, the money will still be there for the undergraduates.
I wanted one that would not let me change my mind later on because somebody within the fraternity hurt my feelings. That’s why we made the Foundation the actual owner of the policy.”
“I really agree with the direction this Foundation has taken and what they are doing now. I find it difficult to ask somebody to do something if I myself haven’t already done so.”
And the process of executing the policy was quite simple, according to Washburn. The hardest part was choosing a company to go with for the transaction. But once he did, the professionals took over and made the whole thing very easy for him.
Washburn had already been donating generously to the Foundation when he decided to create the policy that would put him over the $100,000 mark necessary to make him a New Founder. Once he decided to do so, his insurance company did the rest. Soon after he initiated the action, Washburn was contacted by a medical company that completed the background information for the policy.
“You know, it was really easy. I peed in a cup, they took some blood and then measured my vitals. They worked with my schedule and now the whole thing is done. When I pass on, the money goes directly into the Washburn Scholarship account.”
Washburn wants to see that his example is followed by other Delta Chi Brothers who are in a position to give back.
“My best memories come from those days after I graduated and it is from those moments when I was able to give a kid a scholarship and see the emotion come from him. I’m a very lucky guy that I can do what I do for Delta Chi.”