Create a Charitable Fund

Donor by donor, the Community Foundation of Sarasota County helps connect people with causes and local organizations that align with their key values. You can be the one to make a difference by creating a charitable fund either establishing it in your will or creating it through a trust arrangement that benefits your family, as well as your favorite organizations.

Creating a Charitable Fund offers many distinct advantages:

• Flexibility — We provide a wide spectrum of charitable options that match your interests and priorities. Education, the arts, health and human services, animal welfare and the environment are all within your charitable reach and beyond, supporting not only your local area, but also any charity within the United States.
• Recognition — Funds established in the name of donors or loved ones forge permanent connections with the community. Alternatively, donors may request anonymity and be assured that their wishes will be respected.
• Permanence — We oversee donors’ funds for one-time giving, over a specified time period, or in perpetuity, making sure that they are used exactly as intended. 
• Cost-Effectiveness — By pooling numerous funds, donors benefit from economies-of-scale for lower investment and administration fees.
• Tax Benefits — The foundation is a public charity under federal tax law; gifts made during a donor’s lifetime may result in important tax advantages. Bequests may be deductible for federal estate tax purposes.
• Professional Management — In addition to an experienced staff, the foundation’s assets are invested by some of the nation’s most outstanding financial management firms. Investments are overseen by a separate volunteer committee, chosen for their experience in financial management.

Our in-house corporate counsel is also able to advise donors when considering other philanthropic vehicles such as charitable remainder trusts, gift annuities, and charitable lead trusts that offer guaranteed income, maximized retirement plan benefits and support for your favorite causes or organizations.

Types of Funds

To meet your specific philanthropic goals, the foundation offers an array of funds:

• Designated Fund — Provides support to one or more specific nonprofit organizations on a recurring basis. 
• Donor Advised Fund — Personal charitable account into which donors make tax-deductible contributions. You advise where to direct grants – to any 501(c)(3) public charity in the country. Curious how Donor Advised Funds work? Watch the below short video by Betsy Pennewill, JD, General Counsel at the Community Foundation, to learn more.

• Field of Interest Fund — Allows you to support broad areas of interest, such as education, the arts, the environment, or youth services. The foundation’s professional staff evaluates and awards grants to nonprofits that are making a significant imapct in your area of interest.
• Scholarship Fund — Helps traditional students and adult learners pursue their academic goals. These funds can be established by companies, organizations, families, or individuals.
• Unrestricted Fund — Offers the greatest flexibility in responding to the community’s ever-evolving needs and allows the Community Foundation to address issues as they emerge. By creating unrestricted funds, donors create a legacy that will grow and change alongside our community.
• Endowed vs. Non-Endowed — Endowed funds are those in which the original donation (or "corpus") grows over time through interest and investment returns that can be granted to nonprofits while the corpus remains intact. With non-endowed funds, donors can issue grants from either the fund's investment income or from their original donation.

Establish Other Philanthropic Vehicles

Charitable remainder trusts, gift annuities, and charitable lead trusts are a few other philanthropic vehicles that offer guaranteed income, maximized retirement plan benefits and support for your favorite causes or organizations.

Supporting Organizations

A Supporting Organization allows donors the same degree of involvement as a donor advised fund but gives greater visibility. A supporting organization may have its own board, letterhead, counsel and investment manager but qualifies for the preferential tax treatment afforded community foundations when appreciated or closely held stock is used to establish it.

• The purposes of a supporting organization must be compatible with the Community Foundation.
• The majority of its board (not necessarily its officers) must be appointed by the foundation.
• The minimum gift needed to establish a supporting organization is in the $1 million range.
• An existing private foundation can be transferred to the Community Foundation to eliminate many of its burdensome and expensive administrative tasks. The Community Foundation provides professional and cost-effective ways of administering these funds well into the future.

Donor Privacy

The Community Foundation of Sarasota County has a Donor Privacy Policy. 

If you have any questions about either of these policies, please call 941-955-3000 or email donorservices@cfsarasota.org.