Foundation reflects Bealls' desire to 'do the right thing'

BRADENTON -- Brick by brick, the Beall family began its far-reaching philanthropic foundation by first tearing down a piece of history.

In 1987, R.M. "Bob" Beall demolished their downtown store in a sale to make way for a new Manatee County government building. Those funds -- the exact amount is unknown -- became the seed money for the Robert M. Beall Sr. Charitable Foundation.

The Beall Foundation has grown to become The Beall Family of Foundations, an umbrella group that includes two other family foundations: one by Beverly Beall, R.M. Beall's granddaughter and her husband, R. Kemp Riechmann; and one by Beverly's brother, Robert M. "Bob" Beall II and his wife.

"All of the foundations are very invested in the community," said Beverly Beall. "We love to contribute to organizations like Palmetto Youth Center, United

Way and the American Red Cross. Historically, we have also given a lot to the Boys and Girls Clubs and Take Stock in Children."

Beverly Beall supports students who have been successful locally.

"My husband and I are pretty involved in State College of Florida, and we give a lot of scholarships to children leaving SCF and going on to somewhere else," she said.

The foundations also give many scholarships to the children of Bealls employees. So far, 600 children of Bealls employees have received scholarships, says Patricia Johnson, Beall's divisional vice president of accounts payable and administrative services and administrator of the main foundation.

"To sum up what all the foundations do, we provide academic scholarships, contribute to non-profit organizations that focus on youth and educational services, and we provide assistance to individuals affected by large scale natural disasters," Johnson said.

In 2004, when the region was hit by several hurricanes, Bealls allowed employees to cash in their vacation time and use the cash to help fellow employees.

"We also allowed the employees who had been affected to submit applications, and we made grants based on their needs," Johnson said.

Terry Clark works for a Burke's store, part of the Bealls' group in New Orleans. Bealls' Foundation helped him in 2012 when his home was devastated by Hurricane Isaac in 2012.

"I had worked for Burke's for approximately eight years," Clark said. "I didn't know what I was going to do, but thank goodness for my job and the Hurricane Relief Funds offered by the company.

"Because of the funds, I was able to replace many items lost in the flood," Clark told the Herald.

Beverly Beall recalls that many years ago, when state Sen. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, was a child, his family home in Bradenton burned down on Christmas Eve.

"His parents went into the downtown store and talked to my grandfather, who let them take whatever they needed and said they would settle up later," Beverly Beall said. "They had lost everything."

History of giving

Well before the foundation, the Bealls were all about supporting causes. During World War I and II, Bealls advertised in the Manatee River Journal encouraging its customers to buy war bonds. Another ad during World War I encouraged men to sign up for the National Guard, asking "Are You a Bradentown Slacker?"

R.M. Beall implored his male customers to sign up. "Every man who is able to carry a gun should report to Captain Carter for drill before Monday night and help to give Bradentown a representative company. Don't be a slacker. Talk doesn't show your patriotism -- but your willingness to drill 1 1/2 hours a week will convince everyone that you are right."

R.M. Beall was dedicated to civic involvement, even serving on the Bradenton City Council from 1922-1924. During the Great Depression while Beall worked to pay back the bank to regain control of his store, Beall devoted his time to the Kiwanis Club of Bradenton. He was a charter member of the club when it formed in 1922.

Bob Beall credited his grandfather for setting the standard for service in the family.

"The philanthropy side is important to us," said Robert "Bob" Beall said.

He used corporate money, rather than his own to start the 40-acre Kiwanis Bradenton Trailer Park on 14th Street West, which was the world's largest trailer park for several years. The trailer park welcomed the Trailer Travel Tourists of America who needed a place to meet in Florida, helping prop up tourism.

Beall, as trailer park chairman, approached the city in 1936 for the land negotiating an agreement in which the city received one-fourth of the income.

Beall helped raise tens of thousands of dollars for the park and received a $4,000 loan from the Kiwanis Club of New York state to expand the park from 75 trailers to 1,148 trailers. The Kiwanis ran the trailer park until 1997 when it sold it to the residents for $8.8 million.

University of Florida ties

When E.R. Beall, son of R.M. Beall, headed up the company, the family kept connections with the University of Florida.

In 1991, Bealls gave $100,000 to the university over five years for the Egbert R. Beall/Bealls Department Store Faculty Fellowship in Marketing. The donation, which came with matching funds, also helped establish an introductory retail business course and retail-related internship program.

"Bealls has been a long-time terrific supporter," said Steve Kirn, executive director of the David F. Miller Retailing Education and Research Center at UF, which Bealls also supports with an annual contribution. "They are a Florida company, and a lot of students from Florida want to stay in Florida and work with a Florida-based company. So we try to match Bealls with some of our students. It's a nice marriage."

Bealls also shares business plans and challenges with Kirn's students to not only help the students learn the retailing business, but to help Bealls get a lot of different minds on key issues.

"We get Bealls in front of students and into the good slots at recruiting fairs and help them with branding on campus," Kirn said. "Also, as a semester project, we assembled a student team and studied a real-life challenge Bealls gave us regarding integrating online and in-store retailing, a challenge every retailer is now facing. From the feedback we have gotten, Bealls was delighted with the student team's suggestions."

In 1997, Bob Beall gave $200,000 to fund a professorship in logistics and supply chain management at UF's Warrington College of Business. The professorship would be in his father's name. Beall had already funded a faculty fellowship in his father's name along with an MBA student fellowship.

Bob Beall received the University of Florida Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2008.

Future initiatives

As part of the company's 100th anniversary, Bealls has decided to be a Florida statewide sponsor for Take Stock in Children, mentoring at-risk children. Bealls will also be involved with the American Cancer Society and Habitat for Humanity events this year.

"I think we will continue to move forward with academic scholarships, and we will continue to contribute to organizations that are focused on educational and youth services and that are reflective of community diversity -- especially in disadvantaged or disenfranchised areas," Johnson said.

Over the years, Bealls has contributed to its own foundations, which are financially solid, Johnson said.

"We have an investment committee whose entire goal is that the foundations are around a long time," Johnson said. "As an employee of 18 years, what I would say about the Beall family and our foundations is that the culture in both is about integrity, and doing the right thing and being a good steward."

Richard Dymond, Herald reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7072 or contact him via Twitter@RichardDymond.

This story was originally published March 1, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Foundation reflects Bealls' desire to 'do the right thing' ."