Martha and James Ingold turned their love for St. Jude into an investment for its future

There is a certified public accountant in Bloomington, Illinois, named James Ingold who never had a child of his own. Yet, he thinks about a child he never met every day. 

One child.

A little boy named Michael, who died of cancer in the late 1980s. He was a patient at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital®.

Sometimes James wonders about the life Michael never got to live. 

Michael isn’t a number or a symbol to James. He was a little boy whose absence still ripples through the lives of the people who loved him. 

“In my office, I have a picture of Michael Jr., who is my inspiration,” James said. “We lost Michael in 1988, but he is right there looking over my desk every day.”

When he first met Michael’s parents as their accountant, he had no idea they’d lost a son. That information came as their friendship grew — and as they began responding to the annual St. Jude fundraising letter James sends out.

One day James and his wife, Martha, went with Michael’s parents to visit their son’s grave. 

James asked Michael’s dad why they still support St. Jude even though their son didn’t live. 

James remembers him saying, “Well, number one, they gave us more time with Michael Jr., than we had with any other option. That was so precious. And two, I don’t ever want another set of parents to stand over a grave like this.”

James and Martha don’t want that either. 

“I’ve got work to do until we don’t lose any more Michaels,” James said.

They said they plan to continue this work for the time they have left on Earth, and through their giving, long after they’re gone. 

I can do something

James’ dad was a pharmacist who sometimes gave struggling families their medications for free. In his wallet, he carried a piece of paper with a saying James still knows by heart:

I am only one, but I am one. 

I cannot do everything, but I can do something. 

What I can do, I ought to do, 

and what I ought to do, by God’s grace I will do.

“That stuck with me,” James said. “I’m only one, but I can make a difference.”

James is a member of the Midwest Leadership Board of Directors for St. Jude and he and Martha co-chair the local St. Jude Telethon. The telethon is the culmination of all of the fundraising events in the area, including the St. Jude Memphis to Peoria Run.

Martha, who met James as a fellow CPA working in the same office, said she has watched that sense of purpose grow over the years. 

Just as he does for so many, Martha said, James inspires her.

Wise counsel

When James began fundraising for St. Jude in 2004 after the child of a close friend began treatment there, he simply asked for checks. 

He soon realized that while writing a check to charity can provide a tax deduction, other giving strategies may offer greater tax rewards. 

It sent him down a rabbit hole.

He researched different ways of charitable giving, including establishing a donor-advised fund, qualified charitable distributions from an IRA and other planned-giving strategies. Through this work, he discovered that charitable giving and financial responsibility, far from competing notions, could be complementary. 

“Maybe Uncle Sam can give you a better tax advantage, which means you can give more to the charity,” James said. 

He urges people to talk to the experts. 

“Talk to your attorney, talk to your accountant and financial advisor. You can make wise decisions if you get wise counsel.”

Still helping

Martha and James are practical people who want to help as many children as possible. 

“In our hearts, we would like to see St. Jude keep going until they don’t need to,” Martha said. 

They also understand that medical breakthroughs can take years.

“Some of these cancers are tough to cure,” James said.

Recently, the Ingolds started an endowment so they can watch their gift at work.

“There’s an old saying,” James said. “’Do your giving while you’re living so you’re knowing where it’s going.’” 

As passionate as the Ingolds are about numbers, their gifts are ultimately about intention and the good they want to do in the world. If a person doesn’t make plans for their assets, James believes they lose the opportunity to help the causes and people they care about most.

“If you don’t tell somebody how you want your resources or savings spent, then it may not go where you want it to go.”

While James has devoted increasing attention to encouraging friends, family, clients and community members to consider leaving a portion of their estates to St. Jude, his primary focus remains inspiring people to support St. Jude today. He has raised $3.7 million for St. Jude, including more than $1.17 million in the past two years alone. 

While proud of that impact, James believes legacy giving is a powerful way to help ensure St. Jude research and treatments continue well beyond his and Martha’s lifetimes. With that in mind, the Ingolds have provided in their wills that most of their estate will go to St. Jude.

All the kids

In 2013, Martha was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma and underwent chemotherapy and radiotherapy. She is doing well today. Her treatment deepened her understanding of what St. Jude families face every day.

“It made us even more passionate about finding cures,” Martha said. 

Some of the St. Jude patients they once knew as children through the telethon and other St. Jude events are now getting married. Some are having children of their own. 

“We’re making that next generation possible,” James said. 

That idea has particular meaning for Martha and James because they couldn’t have children of their own. 

“For a while, that really upset us. In retrospect, it makes a lot of sense. I’ve got thousands of kids,” James said. 

The children of St. Jude. 

Some are grown now. Some are undergoing treatment. Some, such as Michael, did not survive.

“When I’m gone, I want my nieces and nephews to say, ‘Uncle James made a difference. Look at all the kids.’”