The trustees eventually approved the endowment after an outside legal and financial review.

It took months, not days, to put the systems in place.

During that time, several newspapers called.

Someone had heard a rumor about an anonymous philanthropist and a young mother who had become a nonprofit director.

I turned down the interviews.

I wanted to tell the story one day, but not while the decisions were still being made.

I didn’t want applicants to become props in a sentimental celebration of somebody else’s generosity.

Nadine asked whether I was disappointed that the gift wouldn’t turn us overnight into a big organization.