A longtime North Carolina resident, Phillips worked briefly as an attorney in her younger years. She loved and was deeply involved in garden clubs, had a passion for ballroom dancing, and was an active member of Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Greensboro. She had celebrated her 100th birthday in May 2024.
Photo Courtesy of Well•Spring
One of the first residents of Well•Spring, A Life Plan Community in Greensboro, who died in August, 2024 at age 100, has made a $24-million bequest that will significantly support the benevolence care for some older adults who live there.
Florence H. Phillips’ bequest is the largest gift to Well•Spring in its history, Well•Spring’s parent organization, Kintura, recently announced. It also is believed to be the biggest bequest nationally to a retirement community, according to aging services leaders.
“Florence was a beloved member of our community starting within six months of our opening in 1993,” said K. Alan Tutterow, co-chief financial officer of Kintura, who knew Phillips well for over three decades. “She cared deeply about those who live here, appreciating the challenges that older adults face, and wanted to leave something significant to help ensure their lives here are secure in a meaningful way. We are deeply grateful for her incredible generosity.”
In accepting the gift, the board of directors earmarked the proceeds to endow Well•Spring’s Residents Benevolence Assistance Fund, which supports Well•Spring residents who have outlived their assets by providing for uninterrupted care until the end of life. By endowing the fund with Phillips’ gift, the annual payout from the endowment should cover benevolence care at the current and foreseeable level of need, Tutterow said.
One’s odds of living to 100 are improving, according to the National Institute on Aging. Worldwide, the number of centenarians will increase by a factor of 10 from 2010 to 2050. And Forbes reported that “the possibility of someone outliving their money is greater now because people are healthier. There’s more preventive care; people are taking care of themselves and they’re just plain living longer.” In a 2023 series entitled “Dying Broke,” The New York Times reported on the inadequacy of the private insurance market – specifically, the offerings of long-term care insurance – writing, “the industry severely underestimated how many policyholders would use their coverage, how long they would live, and how much their care would cost.” The article also pointed out that federal estimates found that “70 percent of people 65 and older will need critical care services before they die.”
“Sometimes unexpected health occurrences can arise,” said Steve Fleming, Kintura co-chief executive officer and former chair of LeadingAge, the nation’s largest membership advocacy organization for aging services. “If that occurs, then our Residents Benevolence Assistance Fund makes it possible for us to fulfill our commitment in caring for them until end of life.”
Well•Spring is home to 487 residents. Of these, roughly 75 percent continue to live independently, while the balance of residents has transitioned to the assisted living, skilled nursing care, and memory support areas of the community.
“This is, simply, a transformative, milestone gift,” said Marisa Ray, Executive Vice President of Philanthropy at Kintura. “And it goes without saying that for Mrs. Phillips to have made a gift of this magnitude, she had tremendous confidence and trust in our organization from a financial perspective. Clearly, she believed in our commitment and ability to properly steward and apply a gift such as this, and we are most honored by her faith in us.”