The Elsie & William Viles Foundation in Augusta, Maine, is working to implement the will of philanthropist Elsie Pike Viles, who left an estate valued at nearly $20 million to the foundation when she passed away last March, the Kennebec Journal reports.

In addition to advancing its mission of supporting environmental conservation, animal welfare, child welfare and education, and the preservation of Maine history and culture, the foundation will carry out Viles' wish that her property be used for "educational, historical, and cultural seminars, meetings, retreats, workshops, and symposia, and as a temporary residence for visiting dignitaries, scholars, educators, artists, and civic and cultural leaders." The foundation's board of directors has allocated funds to pay for improvements to the historic Daniel Cony Weston House and host the meetings of local nonprofit organizations at no cost. In accordance with the late philanthropist's wishes, the foundation will pay property taxes on the 85-acre property, which is valued for tax purposes by the city at $608,000, in part because sixty-four acres of the property are tax exempt under the state's Tree Growth program.

According to Viles' will, the foundation must make annual payments to a variety of specified beneficiaries, including the Elsie and William Viles Scholarship Fund, and has the discretion to add a few local charities to the list — mainly those that Viles supported during her lifetime. Other causes the foundation has supported since it was established in 1990 include the MaineGeneral Medical Center, the Harold Alfond Center for Cancer Care, the Maine State Museum, the Kennebec Valley YMCA, and the Lithgow Public Library.

"Elsie’s still in charge," said foundation president Daniel Wathen, a former chief justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, who had served as vice president of the foundation while Viles was president. "At this point, everybody on the board has known Elsie a long, long time while Elsie was president. We've sort of learned her likes and dislikes, and we feel pretty confident that Elsie is still ruling us."