Creating a fund at the Community Foundation is an easy way to invest in our community. By establishing a fund today, your clients can support favorite charities during their lifetimes. Many of our donors add to their funds each year, recommend grants on a regular basis, and name the fund in their wills.
As a public charity, the Community Foundation for the Greater Capital Region offers donors the maximum charitable tax deduction permitted by law. It may be advantageous for your client to make a current gift based on this year’s tax situation, and to determine grants from their fund in future years.
Opening a fund at the Community Foundation is quick and easy – in most cases, the fund is operational in less than 24 hours. It can be done by you on behalf of your client, or you may refer your client to us directly. Our donor services team is here to help meet their objectives. The Community Foundation is able to keep it just as simple to set up a fund for the future – as part of your client’s estate plan, for example.
Below are the simple steps to establishing a fund. Community Foundation staff is happy to help with any questions or issues that arise during the process.
- Identify your client’s charitable purpose(s) or intent(s). This can range from highly specific – for example, an alma mater, church, or synagogue – to general in scope.
- Select the type of fund that best fulfills that purpose or intent. See below for types of funds that might be appealing to your clients.
- Complete a simple fund agreement to make your client’s intentions clear. Depending on the type of fund being established, your clients should designate current fund advisors (such as themselves) and successor advisors (their children or grandchildren).
- Name the fund. Funds can be named after the donor, his or her family, a cause, or something else entirely. Donors can also choose to remain anonymous.
- Activate the fund by making an establishing gift.
The Community Foundation works with advisors to help shape the impact of their clients’ charitable dollars and to select the degree of involvement, if any, their client wants to have with their charitable fund. Virtually any type of charitable giving your client might want to do can be accommodated within these options. More details are available in the “For Donors” section.
Donor Advised Funds: By establishing a donor advised fund, your client can have ongoing involvement in the use of his or her gift. You and your client work with our professional program staff, identifying ways to use the donor advised fund to address the issues and needs your client cares about most. Donor recommendations are submitted to our Board for approval; then the Foundation distributes grants on your clients’ behalf.
Scholarship Funds: Donors can invest in the community’s future and show students they care, all with the guidance and personal services of the Community Foundation staff. Donors determine the criteria students must meet to receive a scholarship.
Designated Funds: A simple way to ensure specific agencies can count on your client’s support forever; designated funds provide ongoing funding for one or more particular nonprofit agencies.
Community Impact Funds: These funds allow your client to address ever-changing community needs, including future needs that cannot be anticipated at the time a gift is made. Donors can target their Community Impact Fund to address needs in a specific area of community life or a specific region, or they can leave flexibility for Community Foundation program experts to respond to the community’s most pressing needs, today and tomorrow.
