Surely, Lisa Verrette thought, ?he can’t be serious.
At a December meeting of the Community Foundation of Southwest Louisiana, Lake Charles attorney Edwin F. Hunter III mentioned something to the president and CEO about a client wanting to donate a herd of water buffalo.
“My first thought was, ‘Is he joking with me or what?’” Verrette says. “I was just finishing my first year with the foundation, and I had read a lot of things about different foundation assets, but never anything about water buffalo.”
But Hunter called back the next week, insisting he was serious.
In less than 30 days, the foundation was the owner of 8,500 water buffalo living in Tabasco, Mexico worth $5.5 million.
Edmund Giering IV, general counsel for the Baton Rouge Area Foundation [the parent organization for the Southwest Louisiana entity], admits the donation is unique.
“This is undoubtedly one of the most unusual donations the Baton Rouge Area Foundation has handled in its 45-year history,” says Giering, who traveled to Mexico right after Christmas to confirm the existence of the herd before the foundation accepted the gift.
“And the Community Foundation of Southwest Louisiana is relatively new, so it’s certainly most unusual for them. But it’s also probably one of the largest gifts to any U.S. community foundation in 2008 from a value standpoint.”
Lake Charles businessman A.P. Leonards donated the herd to benefit the Daughters of Mary USA Fund. Grants will pay to develop life skills for at-risk 11- to 17-year-old girls.
Leonards is considered a North American pioneer in the field of water buffalo research, breeding and production. He did not respond to requests for an interview.
Fortunately, the foundation doesn’t have to worry about the feeding and care of the herd. Leonards set up a new company dubbed Buf-Mex LLC, then donated the firm to the foundation. Ranchers and vaqueros in Mexico care for the beasts.
So just how will the Community ??Foundation of Southwest Louisiana make money from 8,500 water buffalo?
It turns out that in addition to being a popular beast of burden [water buffalo aren’t ornery like cape buffalo], their milk is in high demand for making Italian-style mozzarella cheese. The cheese itself sells for $25 per pound.
Their meat, which is low in cholesterol, is also prized; some markets will pay as much as $3,500 per animal.
When the ranchers make a sale, the foundation gets a percentage of the profits. Says Giering: “It’s like a sharecropping agreement.”
Verrette says the rare gift has attracted much attention. “We always talk about how we’re here to help the donors with philanthropy,” she says. “What this says about us is that we can definitely think outside the box.”
