The F. James and Rita Rechin Fund was the first donor-advised fund established at the Cleveland Foundation. “Our fund is modest in the worldly scheme of things,” said Jim Rechin, a retired TRW Inc. group vice president, at the time of the fund’s creation in 1985, “but to those on the receiving end, it’s very significant. And that makes us feel wonderful.”

Natives of New York, the Rechins began creating a lasting philanthropic legacy as a young married couple. Busy rearing four children, they nonetheless opened their Buffalo home and their hearts to orphans at Christmas. In 1955, Jim, a mechanical engineer with experience designing jet engines, accepted a job with TRW, and the Rechins moved to Cleveland. Rita made what turned into long-term commitments to volunteer at Hillcrest Hospital and the Western Reserve Christ Child Society. Jim volunteered, too, notably as a board member of Vocational Guidance Services, a job training agency for people with barriers to employment. Whenever the Rechins bought a new car, they donated their old vehicle to the Salvation Army.

The Rechins’ collaboration with the Cleveland Foundation, facilitated by attorney Michael Horvitz, reflected a zest for tackling tough community issues and promoting innovation. Hoping to build what Jim termed “another focal point for addressing Cleveland’s needs,” the Rechins decided the best use of their fund’s income was as socioeconomic “R&D money.”

Rita passed away in 2012, six years after the death of her husband. But the Rechins’ philanthropic legacy endures, most visibly in the blossoming of the foundation’s donor-advised program. Today, the Cleveland Foundation works with about 440 donor-advised funds, each allowing an individual, family or corporation active involvement in grantmaking, as well as access to the foundation’s programmatic, management and investment expertise.