When making a contribution to the Foundation, you have a choice to donate to an existing fund or to create a separate named fund of your choice. Many donors wish to donate to an existing fund because there is no minimum donation amount required. There are those, however, who wish to create a named fund in honor of family members or loved ones. In this case, a minimum donation of $10,000 is required. You may give the entire amount in one donation, or you may take up to three years to bring the fund total up to the required $10,000. Below are listed the types of funds we handle. As always, the staff and Board at the Foundation are willing to work with you to personalize your charitable giving to meet the goals you have in mind.
- Discretionary: This the simplest fund type available. You have the ability of naming the fund and honoring the family or person(s) you wish to honor without having to make any other decisions. You leave the yearly grant distribution decisions to the Board of Directors, knowing that they have the insight and responsibility of selecting the most appropriate beneficiaries for the grants.
- Field of Interest: You may name the fund and select the area of need to be addressed for grant distributions, such as senior citizens, education, healthcare, etc. This fund type allows you to specialize the area for grant distribution in the beginning, while still leaving the yearly grant decisions to the Board of Directors. This fund restricts the use of the income somewhat, yet still allows for flexibility in meeting the changing needs of the community.
- Donor Advised: This fund type requires donor input every year when it is time for distributions to be made. You create and name the fund, then make yearly recommendations to the Board of Directors for the organization you wish to receive the grant distribution.
- Donor Designated: This is the most restrictive of all funds. You name the fund and select the organization(s) to receive the distributions every year without change. Because organizations can dissolve or change, the Board of Directors retains the right to redirect the grant distributions in the event that the original wishes of the donor are no longer feasible.
- Scholarship: You can establish a named scholarship fund and specify the criteria to be applied when selecting scholarship recipients. You may wish to have the distributions awarded to students or a specific college or university. You may choose to be the committee that makes the distribution decisions or may defer that responsibility to the Board of Directors.