One Couple’s Home will Support Local Nonprofits, Forever

Nancy & Stephan Carlucci’s Planned Giving Story

Rochester natives Nancy and Stephen Carlucci met by chance 67 years ago, started dating, and after a month exchanged Aquinas and Nazareth Academy rings. Steve graduated college in 1960 and planned to leave town for ROTC a year later, right around the time Nancy herself was set to graduate. Nancy says, “He wasn’t leaving without me. And I wasn’t leaving without my diploma.” In 1961, Nancy wore her cap and gown at four o’clock, and by ten o’clock the next morning they were married. After 63 years of marriage, the couple says they aren’t tired of each other.

Job opportunities brought Nancy and Stephen back to Rochester after the birth of their first son, Dave, and their second son, Jim, followed soon after. An ad in the paper for two acres of land and a farmhouse led them to the house that has now been their home for five decades. This home, packed with memories of their two children, band practices, the occasional grandkid, and a long and happy marriage, is now part of the Carlucci family’s legacy gift.

The Carluccis see their philanthropy as a small contribution that can help win a much larger battle, as in this proverb they shared:

For want of a nail the shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
For want of a horse the rider was lost.
For want of a rider the battle was lost.

“Think of us as the nail,” says Nancy. With a humble lack of fanfare, Nancy and Stephen have been supporting local charities like Hope Hall School, Spiritus Christi, and House of Mercy. The couple spent a decade volunteering with National Alliance for Mental Illness while also getting support for challenges that have touched their family. They even ran a consignment shop to benefit Spiritus Christi’s mental health center for several years. “I have more familiarity with the mental health community than I ever thought I would, so I know the need,” says Nancy.

One of the most meaningful things about Nancy and Stephen’s legacy gift is the idea that their fund will still be doing good decades into the future. They want to help keep local charities going, but if one of the nonprofits they love does close its doors, they know their fund will be able to support the same causes in ways they can’t even predict today. Knowing that the Community Foundation will lighten the load of managing their estate when the time comes is also no small relief to Nancy.

Nancy and Stephen’s younger son and daughter-in-law, Jim and Andrea Carlucci, learned about the Community Foundation through conversations with trust and estates attorney Phil Burke. “I was so glad that Phil told Jim and Andrea about the Foundation. They did it first,” says Nancy. The next generation led the way, establishing the James and Andrea Carlucci Family Foundation Fund in early 2024 and inspiring Nancy and Stephen to make their own legacy plans just a few months later. Jim Carlucci, beloved son, passionate golfer, and lover of animals, passed away in May of 2024.

Learn more about planning your legacy.