A Smart Investment in Saint Mary's College

After a successful career, Lisa Dittrich Wurst '77 is using a donor advised fund as a meaningful way to invest in the future of Saint Mary's

Surrounded by friends, Lisa Dittrich Wurst ’77 fell in love with Saint Mary’s. She enjoyed the small classes. She loved being close to the University of Notre Dame. She valued the growing feeling of confidence she developed in class. From the moment the Minnesota-then-Florida native first set foot on campus, the College became a place where she felt at home to grow into the best version of herself. 

The lessons she learned have never left her. 

Now a resident of Sarasota, Florida and Montague, Michigan, Wurst looks back on all of the special moments—which include meeting her future husband Tom (ND ’76,’79)—with appreciation for how they shaped her life. Her long career in the financial industry was a successful one. She paved the way for women who come behind her.

“At times, I was the only woman in the room with 35 men,” Wurst said. “The financial industry in the ’80s and ’90s was the place where I learned how valuable my preparation was at Saint Mary’s.” A small class size meant every student was expected to speak in front of the class, and learn what it meant to have a voice—and how to use it. 

In 1979, she joined Union Bank in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Several years in, when she was the retail branch manager, the president asked her to explore whether they should add private banking to their list of client services. Wurst traveled the country meeting with institutions—run almost exclusively by men—to learn all she could. By the mid-1980s, they started the division under her guidance. In time she was back on the retail side of the business, overseeing 75 branches of what was now BankOne. 

At this point, Wurst had earned her master’s degree in Management from Aquinas College. “It was similar to Saint Mary’s,” she said. “The class sizes, the personal connection with faculty.”

In the late ’80s, she was asked to go back to private banking to grow the business. “It was all about building relationships, advising higher wealth clients who needed sound financial advice,” Wurst said. She had 75 clients in her portfolio when she became the division’s executive director. “By then, we were JP Morgan Chase, and I loved my job.”

By 2016, Wurst was ready to officially retire after nearly four decades in finance, following her husband Tom who had a long, successful legal career as an employment litigator.

“When I was first a student at Saint Mary’s, I had no idea what I wanted to do,” she said. “But I liked the practical nature of business. And I had a statistics professor who was so kind. I remember him inviting the class to his house for dinner.”  This personal touch from the faculty helped her see how business can be about relationships. 

Long ago, Lisa and Tom committed to support their alma maters financially. Through a donor advised fund (DAF), they are able to make tax-advantaged charitable gifts easily, directing the money to fund scholarships that are meaningful to them. Lisa chose to establish a scholarship to benefit future business leaders who graduate from Saint Mary’s while Tom, a walk-on hockey player at Notre Dame, likes knowing that their gifts also benefit future student-athletes. 

The fastest-growing charitable giving vehicle in the country, DAFs are designed to manage, invest, and distribute funds to charities, allowing for strategic, long-term philanthropy. Wurst said they are among the easiest ways to give back to Saint Mary’s. 

“You don’t have to have a million dollars to make an impact through a donor-advised fund,” she said. As a wealth advisor, Wurst often promoted their benefits to her clients, but “It’s a good vehicle for everyone, because it is simple.” DAF administrators handle all of the administrative tasks, including investing contributions and coordinating grants from the DAF.

The Wursts chose this path while they are living so they could see the impact of their gift firsthand. Their generosity also advances the priority of increasing scholarships as part of the Ring Out Ring True campaign, which will celebrate its public launch in June.

“All of our giving is to organizations that will make an impact and are sustainable,” Wurst said. “Our parents raised us to give back to the places we benefited from. And we both benefited from the education we received. Our successes are directly attributable to Saint Mary’s and Notre Dame.”

If you would like to learn more about the benefits of giving through Donor Advised Funds (DAF) or other ways to create an impact at Saint Mary’s with a planned gift while also supporting the Ring Out Ring True campaign, please contact Lauren Jaworowski Henzel ’91, JD, Director of Gift Planning, lhenzel@saintmarys.edu, (574) 284-4600.