How Philanthropy Creates Lasting Impact in Senior Living With J.D. Shuman

Intro: 00:00

Welcome to the You Can’t Take it With You show, where we feature stories around generosity designed to inspire and encourage others to do meaningful things in their communities. Now here’s your host, Jim Dunlop.

Jim Dunlop: 00:18

Hi, Jim Dunlop here, a wealth advisor and host of this show, where I sit down with people who get it when it comes to generosity, I’m excited to have guests who can give us stories on generosity to not only inspire our listeners, but to give practical ideas on ways we can give. Today’s guest is J.D. Shuman. Past guests include Peter Greer, Jim Langley, and Phil Cubeta. But before we get to J.D., I want to share that this episode is brought to you by Advent Partners. Ready for Good.

Advent is a financial planning team dedicated to helping you make informed decisions that simplify your financial journey. At Advent Partners, we’re ready for good. Our bold, ten year vision is to help clients donate $100 million to transform lives through generosity and planning united by generosity, relationship excellence, authenticity and fun. We empower meaningful lives and lasting community impact. To learn more about Advent Partners and how we can guide your financial success, visit readyforgood.com. And now let me tell you about J.D.. J.D. serves as the President and CEO of the Asbury Foundation. While he has been in this role since 2019, he has over 25 years of experience in older adult services. He has his Bachelor’s in Business Administration with a specialty in marketing, and is currently working towards his MBA from Mount Saint Mary’s University. 

 He serves on the boards of Spring Bank Senior Services, Supporting Older Adults with Resources or SOAR and the Standing Foundation, and is currently leading his Asbury Foundation team and one of the largest campaigns in the nonprofit Older adult services industry. J.D., welcome.

J.D. Shuman: 01:57

Thanks so much, Jim. It’s great to be with you. Appreciate the opportunity.

Jim Dunlop: 02:01

Now, I’ve shared a little bit of your biography. Could you take a few moments and step back a little bit and tell us a little bit about who you are, who J.D. is?

J.D. Shuman: 02:10

Sure. Yeah. Thanks. So I’m a central Pennsylvania born and raised guy who’s now in Frederick, Maryland area. I grew up in a little town called Bowmanville.

My dad was a lumber man at Webber Lumber in in Mount Wilson, Pennsylvania.

Jim Dunlop: 02:31

But I actually know I actually know exactly where that is.

J.D. Shuman: 02:34

Do you really? That’s cool. Not many people do. So in my in my.

Jim Dunlop: 02:39

My previous life, I worked in the Lutheran Camping Ministry in Camp Kirkoswald is just down the road from there.

J.D. Shuman: 02:46

That’s cool. Yeah, it’s a neat area. And yeah, my dad started working there maybe when he was 15. Retired two years ago from there. So, like, lifetime lumber guy there.

Mom was a stay at home mom had four of us kids. And, yeah, it was a great upbringing, very humble upbringing. You know, we had the giant garden where we grew everything and canned every every week. Yeah. So grew up in that Bartonsville, Pennsylvania area. 

 Today, again, I’m in the the Frederick area with my wife, Julie, and I have two kids, Eve and Isaiah, who are just amazing human beings. I, I’m passionate about philanthropy. I’m very fortunate to be in a an industry that, you know, does a lot of good. And, and it’s neat to see that happen. I think in a world where so much negativity is out there. 

 I love things like this. Your podcast where we get a chance to really elevate that. There’s some beautiful human beings out there doing some pretty incredible things. So yeah, again, I appreciate the opportunity. But that’s just yeah, a little bit about me.

Jim Dunlop: 04:05

So I always like to ask our guests a little bit about their generosity origin story. You’ve spent a large part of your career working in the generosity business. Tell me, what’s your origin story there?

J.D. Shuman: 04:19

Yeah, I think I think a lot of it was ingrained in me from my parents in that we didn’t have much, but we were always sharing with others. We always had people at our home, other families. We were always it was just kind of expected if somebody needed something, you were there. You helped out whether it was a neighboring farm or or a family from church or a family from school, if there was something that was needed, you and you could, you stood up and you helped. So I didn’t realize that was ingrained in me.

I don’t think, until I got older and I started maybe having a more cynical view of society as a whole. Sometimes I get I get frustrated there because, again, there’s some beautiful people that do things that, that the world isn’t aware of. And so again, I think it was ingrained in me in my youth. But being able to be in this industry now and to spend the amount of time I have, I have, I have seen and it’s not hyperbole to say that I have seen lives changed because of other people’s generosity in my role, and that is something that it just keeps building and building and and not just with Asbury, but now I participate in a lot of other nonprofits. You mentioned a couple that I serve on the board for, but just last night, my wife and I attended an event that supported an organization called the Umbrella Project, which they take young people who have lost someone in their life on hikes. 

 That sounds kind of, you know, you might not be able to comprehend how that might impact someone, but it’s a beautiful thing when those young, young adults stand up and share the impact that that those hikes have on them. So I just I think there are so many ways to support people. And when you can see people kind of latching on to that, taking hold of that and doing good for others, it I don’t know, it’s just it’s hard, hard not to love this life when you get to, to be involved in things like that.

Jim Dunlop: 06:38

Yeah, absolutely. Well, I, I think that’s going to lead really well into we always like stories of generosity. And I like this idea that you, you’ve gotten to have a front row seat to lots of people making other people’s lives better through generosity. Tell me about some people that influenced you along the way?

J.D. Shuman: 07:00

Yeah. So, I mean, years ago, I, I started a career in senior living. This is again, you mentioned 25 plus years. And I remember working at a for profit retirement community system. And I my first job there was as an aquatics instructor.

And yeah, and I worked my way up. I worked in the kitchen, I worked in maintenance, I worked in recruiting and marketing and sales and eventually shifted to non-profit and in development and fundraising and the foundation. But I remember distinctly when I was in my early years in senior living, the stories from residents, and there was a couple who who they were always giving to their neighbors. And I remember thinking, oh, that’s a nice couple, nice couple. And then I saw their names in the paper Or because they had given. 

 They were they were generous with their church. And there was a big fundraiser there. And it was funny because today maybe I shouldn’t share this, but I remember them giving me roses. They gave me roses to plant because we were talking about, you know, how much I love being outdoors and I love roses. And so they ended up giving me a couple rose bushes that I planted. 

 And today I have rose bushes all over the property. But but that was kind of an early experience with someone who who gave me something and I saw them giving others. But then especially here at Asbury with the foundation, you know, there’s there’s some amazing donors out there. One one example I’ll give you is Sidney Roseborough, who is a resident at one of our communities in Maryland, who who has a passion around Parkinson’s and brain health related programming and sat down with us, trying to find a way to to implement her passion while making an impact on on our community. And she had just moved to to Asbury Methodist Village in Gaithersburg, Maryland. 

 And and we started talking through what, what that might look like. And we had Sue Paul, our director of wellness at the time. Belinda Adeagbo, who was in the wellness team at that time. We all sat down and started talking about what what Cindy’s vision might look like. And, you know, only about a year and a half later, we began construction on the Roseborough Wellness and Brain Health Center for excellence, which is now one of the premier brain health programs in senior living across the country, impacting thousands of individuals and not only impacting people there at Asbury Methodist Village and the local community, but it inspired an amazing donor at our Bethany Village community, Maryann Morefield, to to fund the Morefield Family Wellness Center, which is providing brain health programming, providing wellness programming at Bethany Village there in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. 

 So that’s I share that story because it’s not just a donor doing something they’re passionate about, but it’s literally a donor inspiring someone else because that individual saw what Cindy was doing. They wanted to make the same thing happen for their community. So just a neat story that that really stands out for me. I feel like it just kind of it’s a great example of the beauty of philanthropy.

Jim Dunlop: 10:50

I want to take a little bit of a detour here, because we’re talking about the wellness centers at a couple of your communities. Am I correct in remembering that I feel like one of your retirement communities is a place that a 12 year old kid would love to be, because am I right that there’s a rock wall? Tell me about the rock wall.

J.D. Shuman: 11:11

Yeah. So yeah, there is funded through philanthropy and it’s part of the brain health program.

Jim Dunlop: 11:18

So okay.

J.D. Shuman: 11:19

We our program when you’re talking about brain health and and Sue Paul who she’s currently the you know, she handles brain health for all of Asbury. And she does a great job talking through our program and why it works. And a big part of it is novel experience, novel experiences. So doing things that you’re not used to, learning something new. And so that’s a big part of it.

And the rock wall, as crazy as it sounds, is obviously a novel experience. And so we do. We’ve had 100 plus year Residents living in our community climb a rock wall. And yeah, so not only do our residents benefit, but to your point, you know, grandkids and great grandkids also benefit from it. So yeah, it’s a cool part of the brain health program, but just a small part of it.

Jim Dunlop: 12:16

Yeah. No, that’s it’s fascinating to me. And I think for me, and I think a lot of listeners would be surprised to know that, hey, this retirement community has got a rock wall. And. Yeah, and but I love the idea behind it in terms of that, that idea of novel experiences and brain health.

So I want to take a little bit back. I know you talked a bit about your parents and they’re sharing, but what’s the earliest example of generosity you can think of in your life, and what impact has that had on you?

J.D. Shuman: 12:47

Wow. The earliest was I, I, I’m a big sports fan. I played football, wrestled my whole life, and I remember having to go door to door to sell subs to, to fund, you know, our equipment and our our camps and so forth. And I remember a neighbor giving $100 and buying like three subs and I didn’t like I didn’t understand that too much because I was, you know, 7 or 8 years old. And my, my parents actually had to follow up with them to make sure that that that was, you know, what they wanted to do.

So it was kind of a small example, but it was one of the first times that I saw somebody doing something above and beyond and not not giving because there was an expectation in return. Rather, it was because they wanted to help and they wanted to do something. So that’s probably the earliest memory I have.

Jim Dunlop: 13:44

Yeah. So, you know, in your bio and you’ve shared a little bit about you and your wife Julie, and things that you’re involved in, like the umbrella project. What was there an event that influenced your generosity, your own personal generosity along the way.

J.D. Shuman: 14:01

Wow, that’s a great question. I so it’s interesting I work with with older adults and that is that’s the passion that I have with Asbury Foundation. But I will say like I, I value helping people that the world doesn’t realize they’re hurting or struggling or dealing with something. Again, like the umbrella project is a great example. You know, you, you know, you’re a 20 something, you know, 18, 20 year old dealing with the loss, you know, whether it’s a parent, a sibling, etc. you know, the the world doesn’t realize you might be struggling with that.

So how how can you step in and help? You know, my my. Standing Foundation is another good example that that is an organization that supports at risk youth through school and trying to connect them to to things that will keep them with purpose and keep them motivated. So that saw is is supporting older adults through resources that’s, you know, low income seniors living in Frederick County. So it’s a world that. 

 Government, you know, is is is not the solution to everything, right. And there is because they can’t it’s inefficient. And so the more you can get involved in those types of areas, like when where again, the rest of the world, the rest of society isn’t necessarily paying attention to. Those are the areas that I tend to be more passionate about.

Jim Dunlop: 15:53

So so shifting again, tell me a little bit about Asbury, who Asbury is and the role of the Asbury Foundation. We hinted at it a little.

J.D. Shuman: 16:03

Yeah. No, no. That’s great. I appreciate it. So Asbury is a great organization.

We’re the 16th largest nonprofit life plan community system in the country. Our communities have residential assisted skilled nursing levels of care. And we we’re in Pennsylvania. We’re in Maryland, we’re in Delaware. The the nonprofit element. 

 You know, there’s a big difference between for profit and nonprofit when it comes to older adult services. Obviously, in a for profit world, you know, you can’t pay your your you’re going to have to go, you’re going to have to leave. And so the idea that we as an organization can honor, you know, that promise that if if someone outlives their resources through no fault of their own, that they can remain living at Asbury. That’s something that the foundation gets involved with are. Our purpose is to align a donor’s passion with transformational opportunities. 

 That’s our value proposition. But we we partner with donors to help fund communities ability to provide benevolent care services, which again, go to to those who outlive their resources through no fault of their own. But then the foundation also partners with donors for things like brain health or associate scholarships, which we just went through a round of scholarships over the last couple of years. You know, over $2.5 million has been donated just for associate scholarships across Asbury.

Jim Dunlop: 17:39

And and that’s for employees that work in the organization. Okay.

J.D. Shuman: 17:44

You got it. And it’s so, so when and I just I just attended scholarship award ceremonies at two of our communities. I’ll be attending a few more coming coming up. But if you if you want to see just a beautiful emotional connection between donor and recipient, it’s seeing those associates, those staff members who, you know, they might they might have started serving tables in the dining room. And literally one of our stories is a woman who is now an RN supervisor or a registered nurse supervisor at our communities, you see the growth and opportunities that are created because of our resident donors funding scholarships at Asbury.

It is such a cool thing. So benevolent care. You know, capital projects like brain health centers, we have bistros, pubs, dog parks, you know, performing arts centers, all of that funded through donor passion than the scholarships innovation. We have different types of innovation, virtual reality programming that has benefited our residents through philanthropy and then things like special programs that are could be anything from music and the arts to, you know, ecology efforts. We have a massive train club at our Bethany Village community in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. 

 It’s one of the coolest things in the world, all funded through philanthropy. So that’s the role of the foundation. And we we have about 70 million in assets we donors give to the tune of 10 to $12 million a year across all of our communities. So it’s it’s a pretty significant impact on the organization and something that, yeah, I’m really proud to be part of.

Jim Dunlop: 19:38

You know, you’ve you’ve shared a little bit of your, your own journey of 25 years in a senior services. Can you share about your experience, some experiences we haven’t touched on and what you’re working on today?

J.D. Shuman: 19:55

Yeah. Well, I mentioned a couple examples of philanthropy there. And it is. It’s actually kind of culminates in, in something we’re working on now, which is our everyday, exceptional 100 year anniversary campaign, as returns 120 26 and back in 2020, the end of 2020 and September, we initiated the quiet phase of at the time was the largest campaign in our industry’s history, and it was a $60 million campaign across all of our communities to impact the areas I mentioned before benevolent care, special programs, capital innovation, and associate scholarships and education. And yeah, I’m proud to say we’re $52 million into that.

So we again, the goal is by the end of next year to hit that 60, which I think we’re on pace to, to finish early, which will be great. But that that’s what that’s what takes my time today. Our team, we have an amazing team of foundation representatives at our communities. We have an amazing donor volunteer base with our residents who are just helping to drive the success for this. And yeah, when you can see the type of impact that’s happening, like I mentioned with associates, it there’s a lot of pride in what we do. 

 So the everyday exceptional 100 year anniversary campaign, that is what that’s what takes my time today.

Jim Dunlop: 21:29

And so 60 million is a is a pretty heavy lift. Although it sounds like you’re well on your way. So congratulations. What what impact do you what are some of the ways that these gifts as a result of the campaign, what are the kind of the impacts that you expect those to have?

J.D. Shuman: 21:49

Yeah. So in our it’s interesting, our industry is kind of where higher education was maybe 60 years ago, and I see us kind of following a similar path. I see this campaign helping to kind of springboard forward, endowing perpetual funding so that these, you know, our when we started the campaign during the quiet phase back in September of 2020, we had seven endowments. Today we have 40. These are donor designated endowments.

So I, I see that still growing and growing and growing so that, you know, people who who have a passion today can ensure that that passion sustains time over time, the the funding desire that the donor has. So I see that happening. The a big impact of, of this effort today is, is obviously Asbury being an amazing place, not just for today but for the next 100 years. And I think a big reason we’ll be able to do that is because of perpetual funding through endowments. So yeah, I see impact long into the future because of what people are doing today.

Jim Dunlop: 23:07

And I know you talked about you’re one of the larger adult or older adult community living organizations in the country. What makes your foundation unique?

J.D. Shuman: 23:21

Yeah, I think we’re we definitely have some differentiators within the foundation. I think our we have a very sophisticated toolbox. We do a lot of estate planning. We do a lot of plan giving. We’ve we’ve been able to support seniors as they move to our community.

So even before they’ve gotten here, we’ve we have vehicles, you know, you know, your audience might know the charitable bargain sale, which it’s the the idea that a charity buys an asset from a donor for a reduced value. And the difference between the. purchase price and the appraised value is a charitable contribution, and we’ve been able to use that vehicle a great deal to the tune of really over $16 million worth of impact at the for Asbury. But we help people move to our community using that vehicle. And, you know, whether it’s us purchasing their home and helping them fund an entrance fee or helping them fund income, passing assets to their heirs there, there are so many ways to to use philanthropy to do good and benefit at the same time. 

 And I think Asbury Foundation and in Asbury has a differentiator there in terms of our sophisticated approach. We we sit down with future residents, people on our waiting list just to talk through. What does this make sense? Is it something that could work for you? We don’t sell it. 

 We literally sit there and share stories about how we’ve helped people in the past with these different vehicles. So yeah, our sophisticated toolbox and our, our financial, you know, the way that we can support people through their plan, giving through their financial goals. I think that really separates Asbury from from others in the, in the industry.

Jim Dunlop: 25:17

I want to ask one final question about the campaign here. And that is if if we were, you know, 2026 is is your 100th anniversary and hopefully that you’ll have hit your campaign goal. And then if we were to go another five years beyond that, so six years from now, it’s 2031, we’re looking back on the campaign. It’s been a real success. What’s a what’s a cool little story you hope has either come out or will come out that you could share, that would inspire people in in generosity.

When you look back and reflect on this campaign that you’re in right now.

J.D. Shuman: 25:53

I think that a tone has been set. You know, the campaign helped maybe inspire something for Asbury that that will live on that moving forward. You know, it wasn’t just the campaign that helped, you know, Cindy or Marianne build those brain health centers. It wasn’t the campaign that helped. You know, the associate get their bachelor’s in nursing.

It was it was a spirit or a culture that that was that was birthed, that is now, you know, or will when, you know, in five years afterwards will still remain strong, that it’s there’s been no slowing down of impacting others through, through philanthropy, that it was kind of the start of, of something beautiful that is living living on. I think that would be a cool, a cool result from from the campaign.

Jim Dunlop: 26:49

What an incredible legacy. I love that idea. J.D. of this, you know, yes, we had these goals. We raised money, we endowed funds, we built the right facilities for, and we inspired another generation of people who see that generosity and want to live in it themselves. So as we before we wrap up, I just want to invite our listeners to learn a little bit more about J.D. and his work.

You can go to the AsburyFoundation.org, you can find J.D. and the Asbury Foundation on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook. So please check out the cool work they’re doing. I think for me, the idea of a rock wall and a senior center is pretty freaking awesome. Yeah.

J.D. Shuman: 27:41

Indeed.

Jim Dunlop: 27:42

Yeah. So. But if I could rent a billboard for you, J.D., and we could share some wisdom with where it would, a lot of people would see it. What would be your message to share with a lot of people.

J.D. Shuman: 27:58

Yeah, that’s a great, great question. And I would say, you know, block out the noise, right. The the you hear every day about, you know, the bad things in this world. And it feels like obviously the news is focused on so many negative things. And, you know, whether it’s political, global, whatever.

But there there are beautiful things happening across this, this globe and, and this country. We we have an amazing country. And there are people here doing beautiful things. The amount of philanthropy that happens annually in this country rivals entire countries, you know, economic output. It is a beautiful thing and it is voluntary. 

 It is because one human sees a need and another human. So block out the noise, celebrate the good because there is so much of it. And and get involved. You know, that’s be a part of it because I think it’s more meaningful if you can, you know, get your hands dirty with it, so to speak. But, yeah, block out the noise and just know there are amazing human beings who are changing lives for the better. 

 Yeah, that would be my message.

Jim Dunlop: 29:17

I think that’s a great note to end on and that, you know, you’ve grabbed the essence of what we’re trying to do with this podcast and that is tell inspiring stories and hope that they motivate other people to do good things. And I really like that message, and I like what you’ve had to share with us today. So J.D., thank you so much.

J.D. Shuman: 29:38

Yeah, Jim, thanks for the opportunity. It’s been a pleasure.

Jim Dunlop: 29:42

Good luck with all your work.

J.D. Shuman: 29:43

Thanks.

Outro: 29:46

Thanks for joining us to hear stories of generosity that remind us that you can’t take it with you. Visit our site at canttakeitwithyou.com for more details on today’s episode and to subscribe to future shows.

Disclosure: 30:04

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