How to Give   Tax Benefits   Creating a Fund   Existing Funds   Affiliates   Donor Rights

You can establish a fund at the Community Foundation to carry out your charitable wishes. We can help you create a fund that allows you to support one or many causes. Our professional staff can assist you in structuring a gifting program that is unique to you. We can also help you to identify charitable activities to support throughout southeast Michigan and the nation.

Before you establish a fund with us, you may wish to review the outline in Making a Gift. That outline will help you identify your charitable goals - and we are always available to assist you in that process.

Please consider the following as you decide to create your own fund at the Community Foundation:

• Identify your fund's purpose – Do you want your fund to support one or multiple charitable purposes?
• Choose a name for your fund – Will you name the fund after you, your family or your business? Will the fund be named in honor of or as a memorial to someone special to you? Do you prefer to remain anonymous?
• Decide how and when to give – Will you create your fund during life or at death? What type of assets will you want to gift to the fund?

Once you have an idea of what you wish to accomplish, our staff can help you establish a fund at the Community Foundation that meets your needs. Most donors wishing to create a legacy and provide ongoing support for the causes they care about will establish a permanent endowment fund. Donors with the foresight to create these permanent funds provide a source to perpetually benefit charitable organizations for generations to come. Types of permanent endowment funds include the following:

• Unrestricted Endowments help meet the most urgent issues facing the people and institutions of southeast Michigan. Donors establishing unrestricted endowments provide the needed flexible resources that can be deployed to address the dynamic nature of the community.
• Field-of-Interest Endowments provide targeted yet flexible support for your area of particular interest – such as, for example, the arts, education or persons with special needs.
• Designated Endowments are created by you if you wish to benefit a named organization or multiple organizations. The Community Foundation ensures that these gifts continue to support the programs provided by that organization throughout the years.
• Scholarship Endowments provide support for student education. We can work with you to ensure that the fund is practical, given the technical nature and high costs of administering these types of funds.

You may also wish to establish a donor advised fund with us. Many donors find a donor advised fund to be a very flexible, simple and efficient way to give. These funds can be established as a permanent endowment or on a "nonendowed" basis - meaning that grants from the fund could exhaust the fund.

You may discover that your goals warrant the creation of a supporting organization (Download Adobe PDF Document). Supporting organizations are another favorable alternative for an individual, family or business considering the establishment or termination of a private foundation. Supporting organizations are separate corporations that enjoy significant tax advantages as a public charity and administrative support due to their affiliation with the Community Foundation.

Please call us (313) 961-6675 for more information about how you can create your lasting legacy.