Sam Bressi gets up each day thinking about how to make $70 million do the greatest amount of good for our community. Now that's a pretty cool job.

Bressi, president and CEO of Lancaster County Community Foundation, also starts his day thinking about something else: What if he had not $70 million but $90 million or $100 million — or even more — with which to work?

Since its origins when Calvin Coolidge was president, the Community Foundation has seen its endowment reach $70 million because people who have a heart for Lancaster County have bequeathed money to it, directing that their funds be invested wisely and the earnings go to nonprofits making a difference.

Because of those gifts, the foundation last year was able to award $2.5 million to dozens of groups with missions ranging from creating nature preserves to providing dental care to the homeless.

"What I like to dream about, though, is what if that were $25 million a year," said Bressi, who joined the foundation in 2008.

Such a tenfold increase might mean that Habitat for Humanity could receive $258,000 instead of $25,800 to build more affordable housing.

And imagine the upgrades Lancaster Public Library could make if it was awarded $100,000 rather than $10,000.

Of course, Bressi's dream means the foundation's endowment would have to expand tenfold as well: to $700 million.

Never gonna happen, right?

Well, one can dream big, and Bressi does exactly that because of two tantalizing facts.

The first, from a study by The Center for Rural Pennsylvania, is that between 2005 and 2055, Lancaster countians will transfer to heirs assets totaling $46 billion. That's a huge amount, and it ties into the second fact, which is that, at present, only 7 percent of estates designate funds to charities.

As Bressi sees it, those two pieces of data point to what can only be called the opportunity of a lifetime.

If the foundation could capture just a sliver of that $46 billion transfer of wealth by boosting the percentage of bequests, it could push its endowment well beyond $100 million. The result could be a game changer for future generations.

Bressi notes that only 7 percent make bequests to charity not because people aren't generous — 90 percent do give to charity — but because they don't know about charitable bequests or they think their estates are too small.

"People are generous," Bressi said. "So if we can educate people to see that you don't have to be wealthy to leave a legacy to what you're passionate about, I think more than 7 percent would feel that way, and if it only grows to 12 percent, that's still huge."

At one time the foundation was content to quietly distribute grants and accept donations from the few who knew about it.

But Bressi was hired to increase the foundation's visibility and community impact. And so his pretty cool job comes with the stress of feeling what he called "the weight of opportunity and opportunity missed."

"Can we galvanize the community around the transformational capacity of philanthropy and transform this community?" he asked.

"I think it's doable. I can't get there soon enough."

jhawkes@lnpnews.com