Giving Options and Fund Types

Philanthropy, Your Way

We know you love your community. We know you have ideas about how to make it even better. We'll make it easy for you to do that.

With us, you can set up a charitable fund of your own or pool your donation with others who are as committed to creating change for this community as you are.

If you're looking to start your own fund and make a bigger impact with your giving, we can help. Our funds let you give in your own way, on your own timetable. Tell us what you're passionate about, and we'll take it from there.

Our Fund Types:

  • Undesignated funds enable you and the Foundation to respond to the community’s needs. Funds such as the Community Foundation’s Community's Endowment or DEI Action Fund provide you with the option to make a meaningful investment in your community.

  • Donor-advised funds eliminate the need for a private foundation. You focus on giving to nonprofits of your choosing; we take care of the paperwork.

  • Field of interest funds allow you to concentrate your giving on a particular issue or geographic area — such as ending hunger, protecting the environment, or supporting the arts.

  • Designated funds support your charitable organizations of choice.

  • Agency endowment funds are set up by nonprofits to grow their assets and, in so doing, provide permanent sources of revenue for those organizations.

  • Legacy funds are funded through your planned gift. You are also invited to join our Legacy Society.

  • Scholarship funds can benefit individuals attending specific institutions or those with particular backgrounds or interests. You may also set guidelines for candidate selection and scholarship awards.

Leave Your Legacy

Planned giving integrates charitable giving with your overall financial and estate planning, potentially reducing your estate taxes while supporting your community.

  • Bequests: Make a charitable gift from your estate with a simple bequest, as noted in your will or trust.

  • Retirement assets: By making the Community Foundation the beneficiary of the most-taxed asset, your retirement account, you can leave more favorably-taxed property to your heirs.

  • Charitable lead trust: Place cash or property into a trust that pays a fixed amount to the Community Foundation for a specified number of years. Once this period ends, the assets held by the trust are transferred to the beneficiaries you name.

  • Charitable remainder trusts: These gifts allow you to receive income for the rest of your life, knowing that whatever remains will benefit your community.

  • Charitable gift annuities: Receive an income for life, while making an immediate, significant gift.

  • Life insurance: Simply make the Community Foundation the beneficiary of your policy. You give a significant gift to charity and receive tax benefits during your lifetime.

Also, when you establish a bequest or other planned gift, you become part of the select group of community-minded individuals that make up the Community Foundation's Legacy Society.

As my husband and I have established our own fund, we have this unique opportunity to be funders and to provide some long-lasting community impact in an area of our choosing.”

– Peggy Roberts, donor-advised fundholder

When you do good, we're all made better. Let's make it better today.