One of the first residents of Well-Spring, A Life Plan Community in Greensboro, who died in August, made a $24-million bequest that will significantly support the growing needs of 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, announced today (May 19, 2025). 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.”
The gift stipulated that proceeds were to go solely to the Well-Spring life plan community; no other entity within the broader Kintura organization may benefit from the gift.
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.
“Being fortunate enough to live at Well-Spring does not make any of us immune to the unexpected twists and turns life can offer,” said resident Jean Davison, president of the community’s Residents Association. “Any one of us could find ourselves in a situation in which this gift would make a tremendous difference in our final years. Florence had the foresight, heart and generosity to understand this, and she created a way to help best ensure all of us – and future residents – are cared for. For that, the residents of Well-Spring are humbled and grateful.”
An older adult can find themselves having outlived their resources for a wide array of reasons, according to Tutterow and others.
“With older adults now living considerably longer, and in many cases depleting their financial resources and long-term care insurance plans they began tapping into long ago, more and more people are outliving their assets than you might expect,” Tutterow explained. “We have seen this trend steadily grow for a number of years now, with no end in sight. Of course, when this occurs – at the most fragile and vulnerable point in their lives – continuity of care must be maintained, regardless. That’s truly what is at the heart of our mission, one that was set upon the creation of Well-Spring, which itself resulted from the driving efforts of local faith organizations at the time.”
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 other cases, life simply throws a curveball.
“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.”
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.”
Industry leaders were stunned by news of the bequest.
“Oh, wow! To our knowledge, no single-site life plan community in the country has ever received a bequest on this scale,” said Katie Smith Sloan, president and CEO of LeadingAge. “We believe that Well-Spring is in a league of its own in this respect. Regardless, this gift is extraordinary on its own merits. Congratulations!”
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.”
A longtime North Carolina resident, Phillips worked briefly as an attorney in her younger years. She loved flowers – roses were her favorite – and was deeply involved in garden clubs. With a passion for ballroom dancing, she once underwrote ballroom dance lessons for Well-Spring residents. She was an active member of Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Greensboro and had celebrated her 100th birthday in May 2024. Well-Spring team members fondly recall her love of chocolate and that she particularly relished activities that involved children and young people.
“She came to love Well-Spring, and Well-Spring became her family,” Tutterow said. “She was not interested in supporting brick-and-mortar needs or capital campaigns. Florence really cared about her neighbors’ well-being, as well as the content and programming of experiences at Well-Spring that help make residents’ lives so well-rounded.”