As your go-to partner for philanthropic planning, the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta is here to help you match your client’s goals with the right charitable fund to fulfill their ambitions. At first, the options can feel overwhelming, but each fund type is designed to do something different.
Here’s a quick primer on a few of the most popular fund types.
Donor-advised Fund: A donor-advised fund (DAF) enables your client to establish a specific account for charitable giving. Your client makes tax-deductible contributions of cash (or, to reduce capital gains taxes, they can give stock or other highly appreciated assets) to the fund, and then recommends grants to favorite charities. Think of a DAF like a charitable checkbook.
Unrestricted Fund: The Community Foundation has its finger on the pulse of the community’s most pressing issues. An unrestricted fund gives your client the opportunity to support community needs that can’t be identified until the future. One of the biggest benefits of a Community Foundation is its perpetual structure that allows clients and their families to offer support to nonprofits that evolves over time as priorities in the region shift.
Field-of-interest Fund: Clients who want to target their giving to specific areas of community need (such as education, public health, housing, or the arts) can set up a field-of-interest fund to establish parameters for grant making under the ongoing guidance and expertise of the Community Foundation’s staff.
Designated Fund: A designated fund allows a client to direct giving to a specific agency or purpose. Over time, the Community Foundation’s staff manages the distributions from the fund according to the terms established by your client.
Scholarship Fund: Clients can set up funds to support students’ educational pursuits based on the parameters and application requirements they outline with help from the experts at the Community Foundation.
A sophisticated philanthropic plan might include several kinds of charitable funds. Some might be established during the client’s lifetime and others are created through their estate plan.
Still not sure which fund is the right fit? Call us! We are happy to think it through with you.
