Thanks to a local animal lover, South County animal shelters and
rescue groups may get a cut of $5 to $10 million aimed at helping
place unwanted stray pets in good homes.
Thanks to a local animal lover, South County animal shelters and rescue groups may get a cut of $5 to $10 million aimed at helping place unwanted stray pets in good homes.
Gilroyan Bennetta Schramm loved animals – so much that she left the bulk of her multi-million dollar estate to increase their quality of their lives. During her life, Schramm donated more than $200,000 to the St. Francis of Assisi Animal Rescue and its low-cost spay and neuter clinic in San Martin to help control the overpopulation of animals. But her legacy will carry on in the $5- to $10-million donation she left to a local foundation to benefit charity – primarily animals – her lawyer said. Silicon Valley Community Foundation will be the primary recipient of the money, and that foundation will handle and distribute Schramm’s gift, multiple sources said.
It is unclear just how much money will benefit animals in South County. The Silicon Valley Community Foundation remained tight-lipped and would not confirm receiving a donation from Schramm.
“We don’t have anything to announce at this time,” said Rebecca Salner, vice president of communications and marketing.
However, Schramm’s estate planning lawyer, Richard Kinyon, said there’s a “reasonable likelihood that a substantial portion of her estate will end up benefiting one or more charities in South County but it isn’t mandated. The foundation has the final say.”
Schramm and her husband Charles moved to their Center Avenue home in rural north Gilroy decades ago and bought up dozens of acres, which they subdivided, developed and sold, Kinyon said. That’s how she made the majority of her money, he said.
About 10 years ago, the couple planted rows of grape vines that still surround the stately Center Avenue home. A short road, Bennetta Lane, named after the late developer and animal lover, lies to the north of the couple’s home.
“They were mom and pop real estate developers, which was pretty unusual for a little old lady,” Kinyon said. “She was a pretty savvy lady.”
At only about 5-feet tall, Bennetta Schramm and her 6-foot-4-inch husband made a “really cute couple,” he said.
“She was the alpha dog and he took orders,” Kinyon joked.
The couple was married for 66 years when Charles Schramm died. They had no surviving children.
Bennetta Schramm drove a vintage white Ford Mustang right up until her death in April at the age of 94, neighbors said.
“As long as they keep giving me a license, I’m going to keep driving,” she would say, neighbor Bill Kinnear said. “She was a character.”
With several pets, including a horse named Marcel and her canine companion Daisy, roaming her property, Schramm threw herself into combating the overpopulation of dogs and cats in South County.
“She was a devoted animal lover and protector who fought for many years against the over-population of dogs and cats,” wrote Olga Matheu, president of St. Francis of Assisi Animal Rescue. “Bennetta’s deep love for animals will be forever present in our South County community.”
Through Helping Hands for Animals, an organization Schramm established, the energetic woman issued certificates to pet owners with low incomes to pay the high costs of spaying and neutering their animals, Matheu said.
“Her main concern was to help spay as many animals as possible to help lower the animal overpopulation,” Matheu said. “It is the surplus of dogs and cats that cause the suffering of innocent, helpless creatures. It is caused primarily by the negligence of pet owners who fail to alter their companion animals in time, before they come in season.”
In addition to her substantial contribution to St. Francis, Schramm discussed the possibility of helping to build a new regional animal shelter in San Martin before her death in April, said Greg Van Wassenhove, Santa Clara County agricultural commissioner.
“She liked that idea,” Van Wassenhove said.
However, “she died before we got that off the ground,” Kinyon said.
The shelter would have cost about $8 million, Van Wassenhove estimated. After Schramm died, building the shelter with her money is not as straightforward a venture as it originally seemed, he said. Now, the county shelter will likely have to apply to the foundation to receive a grant, he said.
“I’m not surprised,” he said. “I knew things would change when she died.”
Instead of cutting a check directly to the various animal rescue groups and shelters in South County, the foundation will safeguard and invest Schramm’s money, redistributing the income from the donor-advised endowment fund to various charities over time, Kinyon said.
The foundation’s distribution committee, with the help of an advisor who Kinyon would not name, will dole out the money.
“That person knows what Mrs. Schramm’s wishes were,” he said.
At 94, Schramm was not sure what charities should receive her money so she left it to the foundation, Kinyon said.
“As we get older we get a little fuzzier and it’s hard to make decisions,” he said. “Her wishes were somewhat vague. A lot of it was oral and not binding but it’s the moral obligation of the foundation to honor her wishes.”
In her will, which she drew up in 1998, Schramm didn’t name any specific South County animal organizations as beneficiaries, but named a trust company as executor. After paying any debts or taxes, the executor will turn her estate over to the foundation to be invested, Kinyon said.
“The nice thing about what (Schramm) did is that it’s in perpetuity,” Kinyon said. “Her money will be distributed year after year.”
The provisions of Schramm’s private trust are confidential, he said.
The foundation will likely use the advisor’s direction along with records of who Schramm has made charitable gifts to in the past and its own resources to determine who will receive the money, he said.
“Bennetta was a wonderful woman,” Kinyon said. “She really felt for the animals she helped, and will continue helping.”
