Charity At Work
Building Blocks of Philanthropy
At The Community Foundation, we are fortunate to work with dynamic donors interested in learning more about how philanthropy can change communities. It is your continued generosity that allows us to make an impact that will mean something to you and your family forever.
Grow Big & Strong
As your partner in philanthropy, we want to make the process easy and flexible for you. We provide personalized support through our philanthropic advisors to help you make grants through your fund. Or if you already know exactly where you want to give, you can access your fund by clicking on one of the links below.
Establish an endowment to create a gift that keeps on giving. The principal is never spent so the balance is continually invested. Annual earnings are reserved for your charity of choice. Your Community Foundation is Where Giving Grows.
Compounding Impact
Given the principal is never spent on an endowment, the annual earnings produces meaningful contributions to the charity of choice that will eventually provide more dollars than the initial value. In ten years, you are likely to gift to your chosen charities as much as you initially endowed. Given 30 years, an endowment gives three times its initial value. The impact of your endowment keeps growing forever. To learn more, contact our Foundation to discuss the opportunities to build your own legacy for future generations of our community. Each of us has the opportunity to be a philanthropist and support our favorite causes forever.
Types of Funds (Defined)
AGENCY ENDOWMENTS: Typically established at the request of a charitable organization (the “Agency”) to provide support to Agency’s exempt purposes, as recommended by the Agency
DESIGNATED FUNDS: As the Community Foundation's most popular endowments, this fund is stablished to provide support for a specified public charity (e.g., the local art museum, symphony, humane society, or City Park).
PROJECT FUNDS: also known as Pass Through Accounts, allow flexibility and immediate impact of funds. Often in conjunction with endowed funds, the contributions to these funds are spendable and not held as principal in an endowment. There is no perpetual impact of these gifts, but they do make an immediate impact on the community.DISCRETIONARY FUNDS: A discretionary fund is established to benefit the community more broadly. These “common good” funds are the best way to give back to the whole community in general rather than support a particular organization or cause. An unrestricted fund is a permanently endowed fund named by or for the donor and grants adjust over time as the needs of our community change.
DONOR-ADVISED FUNDS: A donor-advised fund is the Community Foundation's most flexible giving vehicle. It allows you to donate now to the Community Foundation and recommend grants to specific nonprofits - A few key items to know about this fund:
- Donors are separately identified with reference to the contribution.
- The fund is owned and controlled by a sponsoring organization.
- The donor must have the privilege of providing advice with respect to the fund’s distributions.
