KUNI FOUNDATION IN THE NEWS
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Kuni Foundation Announces New Officers May 25, 2010
The Wayne D. Kuni & Joan E. Kuni Foundation, Vancouver, WA, is pleased to announce the recent election of new officers for the Foundation's Board of Advisors. Carolyn W. Miller, an attorney practicing in Washington and Oregon, was elected President of the Foundation's Board of Advisors. Sean D. Kuni, a businessman from Vancouver, Washington, was elected Secretary of the Board. "Kuni Foundation has made more than $2.1 million in grants in the two-and-one-half years since it began making grant awards. I am honored that the Board selected me to lead this dynamic Foundation as it goes forward," commented Ms. Miller. Mr. Kuni added "I am proud to be part of continuing the charitable legacy of my mother and my late father. We strive to make a difference in the lives of cancer patients and mentally disabled adults." The Wayne D. Kuni & Joan E. Kuni Foundation, established in 2005, awards grants in two primary areas of interest - clinical cancer research and supported housing and socialization for educable metally retarded adults, with particular emphasis on persons 50 years of age or older. The Foundation is the largest shareholder of Kuni Automotive, a retail dealership holding company that owns 10 dealerships in four states. In the local area, these dealerships include Kuni BMW, Lexus of Portland, smart center Portland, Kuni Collision Center, as well as Lexus of Seattle in Lynwood, Washington. |
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Kuni Foundation awards grants for cancer work THE COLUMBIAN - Vancouver WA, Saturday, April 10, 2010
The Wayne D. Kuni & Joan E. Kuni Foundation has announced the five recipients of $825,000 in grants for cancer research. The awards of $137,500 were awarded to support clinical cancer studies at five Pacific Northwest research institutions. Two grants went to Portland centers: Oregon Health & Science University and the Robert W. Franz Cancer Research Center at Providence Medical Center. The other three grants were awarded to The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle Children’s Hospital & Research Center and the University of Washington School of Medicine, all in Seattle. This year’s Kuni Foundation grants are in the research areas of prostate cancer, adult blood cancers, breast cancer and pediatric leukemia. The foundation hopes to award additional grants this year in the area of supported housing and socialization for adults with developmental disabilities, according to a news release from the foundation. The foundation is the largest shareholder of Kuni Automotive, a retail dealership holding company that owns 10 dealerships in four states. |
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Winter/Spring 2008 Generation to Generation Newsletter From Cedar Sinai Park - Portland OR Kehillah Housing recently received a vote of confidence from the Wayne D. Kuni & Joan E. Kuni Foundation. The Kuni Foundation is making a $200,000 challenge grant available to Cedar Sinai Park in order to help our organization build apartments for a special needs population. Kehillah Housing is a project being developed by Cedar Sinai Park in collaboration with Jewish Family & Child Service for adults with developmental disabilities who are currently living with their parents and need to move successfully into the community. In order to receive this grant Cedar Sinai Park must raise $200,000 new dollars for the proposed project. The Kuni Foundation gift is added to the prior commitment made by the National Council of Jewish Women of $475,000 towards this same project. Ultimately, Cedar Sinai Park hopes to raise $2,000,000 in private donations before approaching the Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for the grant funds which can be made available to construct the building. Chief Executive Officer, David Fuks, said, “We are deeply grateful to the Kuni Foundation for its vision and support of this project. They join with the National Council of Jewish Women as strong and early supporters of this new development which will be of such great service to our community.” Paul Frisch, President Elect of the Cedar Sinai Park Board and Chair of the Kehillah Housing Committee, replied, “The Kuni Foundation and the National Council of Jewish Women are truly visionaries. We are grateful for their support and are determined to live up to their trust.” Cedar Sinai Park will be seeking the support of others who are particularly interested in this special population to be served by Kehillah Housing. Once the facility has been constructed, Cedar Sinai Park will work in collaboration with Jewish Family & Child Service to assure that the highest quality of housing and support are available to residents and their families. |
Charity - The Kuni Foundation is making a $200,000 challenge grant available to Cedar Sinai Park in order to help our organization build apartments for a special |
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Kuni Foundation gives $1.3 million in grants
OREGONIAN - Portland OR, Friday, February 29, 2008 The Kuni Foundation's first round of grants total more than $1.3 million to support two causes: cancer research and caring for educable developmentally disabled adults. The founder of Kuni Automotive, Wayne Kuni was the victim of three kinds of cancer, and was the father of two developmentally disabled children, said Carl Christoferson, president of the foundation. Over 35 years, Kuni built his Beaverton-based company into a chain of dealerships across four Western states. When Kuni was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2004, he set to work creating the Kuni Foundation that was to direct much of his company's proceeds to charity. It was established in 2005, and he died at 75 in February 2006. The first Wayne D. Kuni and Joan E. Kuni Foundation awards will go to cancer studies at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, at Providence Medical Center and at Robert W. Franz Cancer Research Center.The Cedar Sinai Park in Southwest Portland got a $200,000 challenge grant for developmentally disabled supported housing, and New Hope Farms in Goldendale, Wash., got $150,000 for developmentally disabled programs. -- Amy Martinez Starke |
Charity - The awards go to cancer research and supported housing for adults with developmental disabilities 02/29/2008 |
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Automotive News -
Innovative Dealer leaves charitable legacy
AUTOMOTIVE NEWS - 5:32PM, February 6, 2006, ONLINE Wayne Kuni, chairman of Kuni Automotive, died of lung cancer Friday, feb. 3. He was 75. Kuni Automotive, of Vancouver, WA, operates 12 dealerships in four Western states. It had estimated group revenues of $700 million last year. Kuni set up an unusual succession plan that enabled him to donate most of his business proceeds to charity while keeping his dealerships intact. ''Things do not make you happy,'' Kuni told Automotive News in an interview last year. ''They are just things.'' Kuni, a Detroit native, joined General Motors in 1954 as a service representative in Chevrolet's Flint, Mich., zone office. In 1955, he began working with retailers for Motors Holding, a business unit of GM that supervises struggling and startup dealerships. Kuni left GM to open his first dealership in 1970. He is survived by his wife, Patricia Anderson Kuni, of Vancouver, Wash.; threee children, Michael, Sean and Kimberly; two grandchildren, two stepsons, a stepdaughter, a step-grandson and a borther, William Kuni Jr.. -- You may email Donna Harris at dharris@crain.com |
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02.22.2008 - Kuni Automotive Announces Grand Opening of smart center Denver
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2.4.2006 - Wayne Kuni / The Oregonian
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Spring 2005 - Gifts of Hope / OHSU Circle of Hope Newsletter
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Wayne Kuni will leave his 37 percent stake in Kuni Automotive to the Kuni Foundation, which benefits many causes. Taking stock |
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By Donna Harris
Automotive News / October 10, 2005
How much is enough? Wayne Kuni has pondered that question at length, especially since he learned two years ago that he has lung cancer.
Kuni, 74, is chairman and founder of Kuni Automotive, which operates 10 auto dealerships in four Western states. His net worth tops nine figures. He expects his business to clear $700 million this year.
Kuni has given his family a comfortable life. He has groomed talented executives to succeed him and ensure that his business thrives. Now he is planning his legacy. "What do you do with the rest of the money?" he asks. "You've got to give it to somebody. You can't take it with you."
His response is an unusual succession plan. It will enable him to donate most of his business proceeds to charity while keeping his dealership group intact.
Kuni wants the foundation that he has created and that bears his name to benefit several causes, notably cancer research and care for mentally disabled adults.
Kuni Automotive, of Vancouver, Wash., reports that in 2004 its net earnings before taxes exceeded 3 percent of sales. The average dealership netted 1.7 percent of sales before taxes last year, the National Automobile Dealers Association says. Automotive News estimates that Kuni Automotive's revenue was $538.0 million in 2004.
When Kuni dies, his 37 percent stake in the dealership group will go to the Kuni Foundation. The stock will become nonvoting shares.
Kuni's ex-wife, Joan, is the company's third-largest shareholder. Her 18.5 percent interest will go to the foundation as nonvoting shares when she dies. At that point, only company CEO Greg Goodwin and CFO Carl Christoferson will have voting shares in Kuni Automotive.
Kuni's succession plan protects the investment his general managers and corporate executives have made in the company because the foundation will not have a controlling interest.
"They have nurtured this business and brought it along," he says. "They are entitled to go through their working life running the business."
Sheldon Sandler, a Skillman, N.J., investment banker who brokers dealership sales and has worked with Kuni in the past, says that many dealers make big donations to charity.
"But turning over his business to a charitable foundation upon death is unique within the dealership community, if not within privately owned businesses overall." Sandler says.
More than enough
Kuni won't disclose his net worth. He says only that he has made "more money than many could spend in a lifetime." He has a 4,400-square-foot house in Rancho Mirage, Calif., and a 4,000-square-foot penthouse that overlooks the Columbia River in Vancouver, Wash. He once owned a 60-foot yacht.
"I am not living a shepherd's life," Kuni concedes. "But I have never taken a dime out of the business other than my salary and bonus. That's why the capital is there."
Kuni seeks to provide for his family without turning over his entire fortune. He believes his earnings should benefit his community.
"You can damage your family much more by giving them too much than you will by giving them too little," he says. "You take away all their inherent right to accomplish on their own."
Kuni's 42-year-old son, Sean, owns 23 percent of Kuni Automotive and is its second-largest shareholder. His stock was converted to nonvoting shares in 2003. Sean Kuni ran one of the group's dealerships before he retired at the end of 2003. He intends to be active in the foundation, Goodwin says.
Kuni has set up trust funds to provide for two other children - Mike, 48, who is mentally disabled, and daughter Kim, 36.
If Kuni simply were to donate the company's stock to charity, he notes, the business would be in jeopardy. "Charities typically sell the stock right away," he says.
Kuni says his objectives in creating the foundation have little to do with avoiding estate taxes.
Company CEO Goodwin agrees. "This is not a tax scheme," he says. "It is a decision by Wayne to leave most of his remaining assets to charity. Wayne believes that by taking these steps and restructuring the company for long-term succession, the charity and all other Kuni Automotive stakeholders will derive the greatest benefit."
Mentors and values
Kuni says his early career with General Motors cemented his ethical values and inspired the concepts he has used as a dealer to motivate managers and executives. The experience also contributed to his succession strategy, he says.
Kuni, a Detroit native, joined GM in 1954 as a service representative in Chevrolet's Flint, Mich., zone office. In 1955, he began working with retailers for Motors Holding, a business unit of GM that supervises struggling and startup dealerships.
His boss at Motors Holding, William Harvey III, displayed strong ethics and genuine concern for others, Kuni says. Harvey insisted "there was never a justification to lie, misrepresent or exaggerate in any circumstance," he adds.
Kuni's experience overseeing troubled dealerships taught him to make tough decisions. While working for Motors Holding's Chicago office, he bought, sold or closed a dozen stores in a single year.
"I had tremendous authority," he says. "I had full responsibility for those stores. I was a full, voting shareholder."
Partnership model
Kuni left GM to open his first dealership in 1970. He embraced the Motors Holding partnership model, which requires entrepreneurs to make a significant investment in a dealership to operate it.
"If you don't have (dealers') money, you don't have the commitment," Kuni says.
Kuni Automotive requires its general managers to invest most of their net worth when they take responsibility for their dealerships. They also invest a percentage of their annual earnings until they achieve a 20 percent equity stake. Kuni Automotive keeps a majority stake in its stores.
Kuni's top executives also must invest hundreds of thousands of dollars to join top management. Goodwin, Kuni's CEO, owns 10 percent of Kuni Automotive. Christoferson, Kuni's CFO, owns 5 percent. The dealership group and the foundation it will support need committed leadership for a stable future, Kuni says.
Goodwin says Kuni's succession plan has inspired the commitment of company employees. Some were moved to tears when they learned of the Kuni Foundation, he adds.
Monte Phillips, general sales manager of Kuni BMW in Beaverton, Ore., says the foundation makes him feel good about his job. "We can drive home at night knowing the cars we sell are going toward helping others," Phillips says. "A lot of times, you can't say that in the car business."
As Kuni battles his aggressive form of cancer, he says he wants to set an example for others who have earned wealth and influence in the auto industry.
That example, he hopes, includes a commitment to community service and an appropriate answer to the question: How much is enough?
Q&A: 'Things don't make you happy'
By Donna Harris Automotive News / October 10, 2005
Wayne Kuni believes in donating excess earnings to charitable causes. He explained how he arrived at his philosophy to Staff Reporter Donna Harris.
Those who know you say that you have lived modestly for a person of great wealth and that you have always given generously to charities. When did you ponder the question "How much is enough?"
When I found out I had cancer a little over two years ago. We are so busy working and creating wealth. It isn't until the Grim Reaper puts his hand out that you really begin to go through the process. Money starts out as a necessity. You are paying for a college education or food for the kids. Once you get beyond that, you can only take so many vacations. You can only eat so many steaks. You can only buy so many Italian suits. After that, money becomes the measure of your success. And it's really a poor measurement of success. The difference between $1 or $1 million or $10 million is just zeros. The fundamental reasons you do things don't change just because there are more zeros.
Why is it so important to ask how much is enough?
Things don't make you happy; they are just things. Somebody told me once to never love anything that can't love you back. It is a saying I always remember.
What individuals contributed most to your value system?
There are two people. William (Bill) Harvey III, my boss at Motors Holding, had as much effect as anyone could on forming my values and showing me the way. If he was alive today, he would have been the kind of person you would want as president of General Motors. He had all the right instincts and all the right thoughts, but he was outspoken. In those days, you were not outspoken.
My father-in-law, Lewis Van Arman, also had a profound effect on me. He was a fine individual. He was controller of Chevrolet Motor Car Division from 1948 to 1955. He was an honest, good person in every way.
For him, there was only one way to do things.