There are many flexible ways to support your interests - the choice is yours. How involved do you want to be in your grantmaking? Do you want to give to a specific organization or a specific area of interest? Launch a scholarship to honor or memorialize a loved one? Restrict your giving to northwest Ohio and/or fund internationally? Create or continue your business giving program? Whatever your giving goals, there is a fund option for you.
The Foundation offers a number of fund options for you, your family, businesses and nonprofit organizations. The funds are flexible and you decide how much or how little you want to be involved in making grants.
A fund at the Foundation can operate like a private foundation, but without the administrative and legal burdens associated with private foundations.
Community Fund (also referred to as an Unrestricted Fund) - A Community Fund is the broadest option, helping meet the ever changing needs of northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan now and in the future. Community Fund grants are given to qualified organizations to support the well-being and vitality of our region and its residents.
You leave the decisions about the use of your gift to the Foundation. You trust the Foundation's extensive experience and knowledge of the community to identify the most pressing needs and effective programs. A Community Fund provides maximum assurance a fund will remain timely and relevant.
Donor Advised Fund - You take a more active role in your grantmaking (whether local, national or international). A Donor Advised Fund provides maximum flexibility for your grantmaking, allowing designated advisors (named by you) to make recommendations regarding grants from your fund.
The Foundation facilitates compliance with financial, legal and tax requirements, as well as helps develop grantmaking strategies, articulates funding guidelines, and conducts due diligence relieving you of the administrative responsibilities associated with charitable giving. If you wish, the Foundation helps you identify additional organizations that you might consider supporting.
You have several options.
Field of Interest Fund - You direct funding to specific causes (the environment, youth programs, the arts) or geographical areas (a town or county) that you feel strongly about, yet it does not restrict grants to any one particular organization. Field of Interest Funds support issues or areas that are important to you in perpetuity.
Designated Fund - You support one or more particular charitable organization or institution in perpetuity. A Designated Fund may help a single theatre, a food bank, a school, etc., during your life and after your death. If a beneficiary organization ceases to exist, loses its tax exempt status or changes its mission, the Foundation redirects support to a similar organization to honor your original intent.
Scholarship Fund - You establish an educational scholarship for a specific interest. Scholarships can support any level of education, and may be directed toward students who are graduates of a particular grade or high school, students planning to attend a particular secondary or post-secondary school, students in a particular field, or students from a certain geographical area, etc.
Supporting Organization - A Supporting Organization is a separate and distinct legal and grantmaking entity that is in direct affiliation with the Foundation. It maintains its own board of trustees, which has decision-making authority relevant to grant recipients and other matters. A Supporting Organization's alliance with the Foundation reduces administrative, investment and regulatory burdens.
Donor Directed Pooled Fund - You can choose to pool your gift with other donors. This type of fund allows you and your spouse the privilege, during your respective lifetimes, to annually designate specific charitable organizations to receive grants from your fund.
Organization Endowment Fund - The Foundation's years of experience with the nonprofit community enables us to assist other charitable organizations in managing their assets. By establishing an endowment fund at the Foundation, nonprofit organizations are relieved of the administrative burdens and costs associated with holding its own endowment fund, while receiving a steady stream of income for operations, programming or other organizational needs.