It’s Never Too Early to Plan

Mike Delsesto ’08 has a message for younger alumni: You’ve got an impact to make—right now. Get out there and make it!

Real estate entrepreneurs Delsesto and his wife, Lindsey, are making an impact on the Boston property market with their business, Park Street Ventures, and they’ve made an impact at the Heights by including BC in their will. “It’s so easy to add a sentence to that legal document,” he says. And while you may not have every detail of your estate planning figured out right now, “it’s important to have a plan,” he adds. “Life is short—it flies by. Identify your priorities.”

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BC is one of those priorities. Over the 11 years since Delsesto graduated, he’s supported BC through annual gifts and as a volunteer. “I do a lot with the Career Center; I’m in a place where I can relate to the students,” he says.

Growing Park Street Ventures—which got its start while Delsesto was a BC student—is the couple’s primary focus in this phase of their lives. “Cash is precious to me at this point; I reinvest my capital into my business to keep growing,” explains Delsesto. And as his real estate holdings increase in value, the value of his bequest to BC grows as well. “I see myself as being able to have a more significant impact on Boston College by long-term giving versus short-term. That’s my perspective. Everyone is in a different situation.

“People my age think they’re too young to make an impact. But I disagree. They may have more to give in terms of time than they do in terms of money, but now’s the time to start the relationship—because we are the future of this economy, and we are the future of philanthropy.”

Giving back to BC is a natural for Delsesto. “When I think of philanthropy, I think of Boston College,” he says. “Some of the most meaningful experiences I had on campus revolved around philanthropy and the service immersion programs that I was involved with,” he recalls. In fact, one of Delsesto’s first entrepreneurial ventures was establishing a service trip at BC—“social entrepreneurism, if you will,” which inspired him to pursue a minor in the Faith, Peace, and Justice program.
Delsesto points out that there is a powerful multiplier effect when a donor invests in formative service programs at BC. “Many participants of those programs apply their Jesuit service learning education to important causes all over the world throughout their careers,” he says. “By investing in service learning education at BC, we are investing in all the philanthropic works all of those program participants will carry out over their lifetimes.”

Both his personal commitment to philanthropy and social justice as well as his vocation grew out of his experiences at the Heights, Delsesto says, adding “It all started with BC.” His first foray into real estate entrepreneurship was renting apartments to fellow BC students while still a college sophomore, the beginning of his career in commercial real estate.

The Delsestos hope to inspire more of their peers to think about their own long-term impact at the University by including BC in their estate plans. “It’s truly rewarding to deepen your relationship with BC,” says Delsesto. “Join us!”