Family foundations usually represent a significant commitment of assets and energies. The Lehigh Valley...
Types of Funds
Donors have diverse charitable interests and goals, and the Community Foundation's menu of funds can help you to fulfill your philanthropic intentions. Grants from either type of fund may be donor directed or recommended by our Grants Committee.
Discretionary funds provide maximum flexibility in addressing changing community needs and opportunities. If you recognize that the community will change over the course of time, and you wish to assure that grantmaking from your fund will always address current needs and opportunities, you may want to establish a discretionary fund. The Foundation's Grants Committee determines, on an annual basis, how grants from the pool of discretionary funds will be made.
Donor-Defined Funds are funds for which the donors' directions or preferences play some role in grantmaking from the funds. Types of Donor-Defined Funds are as follows:
Area of Interest Funds
Perhaps you are interested in a broad area of community life—the arts, education, human services, healthcare, or the like. Perhaps your interest is in a specific geographic area---example: Easton---or a specific population such as children at risk. You may wish to create an area of interest fund that will assure that grants will be made to non-profits with missions serving your interests. The Foundation, working through its Grants Committee or special committees, determines how annual grants will be made from Area of Interest Funds.
Designated Funds
If you wish to support one or more specific non-profit organizations, you may choose to establish a designated fund, assuring that grants will be made to those organizations each year for as long as they exist, or for the duration of a temporary fund
Donor-Advised Funds
Perhaps you want to be involved with your charitable choices. You may want to recommend grants from your fund and to vary those grant recommendations and change your charitable priorities. A donor-advised fund permits you to recommend grants from your fund and to vary those recommendations and change your charitable priorities as you wish. The Donor Advised Fund Worksheet will be used to create a draft fund agreement.
Organizational Funds
Many non-profit organizations choose to establish charitable funds that can provide them with an income stream. Some create two types of funds at the Community Foundation: a temporary fund that can help with capital or emergency expenses and a permanent (endowment) fund that can provide income over time. Click here for FAQs about Organizational Funds. The Organizational Funds Worksheet will be used to create a draft fund agreement.
Scholarship & Award Funds
Scholarship funds provide support for education while award funds provide grants to recognize achievement in areas such as teaching, the arts, or scientific research. Grants from award funds must comply with regulations and requirements for grants to individuals. Use of the Scholarship Fund Worksheet will help you to think through the information needed to construct the fund.
All of the funds listed above may be permanent or temporary.
Permanent funds, also known as endowment funds, provide grants in perpetuity. These funds are governed by the Foundation's spending policy rate, set annually, to determine what percentage of the fund's assets are available for grantmaking. The purpose of the spending policy is to preserve the impact of grants over time.
Temporary funds permit principal as well as income to be used for grantmaking, and it is expected that the entire corpus of a temporary fund will be expended in two to five years, or converted to a permanent fund at the Foundation.
