What is a Community Foundation?

A community foundation is a tax-exempt public charity serving thousands of people who share a common interest — improving the quality of life in their region and beyond. Individuals, families, businesses, and organizations create charitable funds that help meet local and national challenges.

What does a Community Foundation do?

A community foundation receives charitable gifts, manages charitable assets and makes charitable grants. Community foundations offer several types of funds to help donors achieve their charitable goals and to meet community needs.

Why do people give through Community Foundations?

Community foundations work with individuals, families, businesses, and nonprofits to make giving easier, more effective and more enjoyable. Setting up a charitable fund with CFBC is an easy way to streamline giving and realize philanthropic goals. Below are just some of the benefits:

Simplicity

Bring strategy and structure to your giving

• Utilize our staff to support your charitable giving goals with services like family meeting facilitation, business giving strategy sessions or deep research on your interests

• Receive one tax receipt.

Maximum Impact

• Leverage our community experts who review numerous nonprofit grants annually and have deep expertise in issues you care about.

• Benefit from due diligence conducted on every nonprofit of interest.

Flexibility

Stay personally involved in grant-making

• Incur fewer administrative burdens and cost than a private foundation.

• Maximum tax benefits — more than a private foundation.

• Invest with 160+ other funds and more than $50 million in assets.

• Donate diverse types of assets like privately held stock, real estate and more.

Charitable Funds

Creating a fund CFBC is probably easier than you think. The CFBC’s professional staff can create a personalized fund agreement based on your client’s financial needs and charitable goals and to structure the fund in a way that meets their intent.

Leave a Legacy

Planning today for your client’s charitable legacy ensures that they are able to provide for their loved ones and the causes they care about.

• Charitable Bequest - Your clients can name the Community Foundation to receive all or a portion of their estate through their will or trust, reducing estate taxes while creating a charitable legacy. Bequest language can be cut and pasted from the Advisor FAQ section.

• Charitable Trusts - A charitable lead trust or several types of charitable remainder trusts create valuable options in estate planning by providing tax savings, a significant gift and income for either a charity or family members.

• Life Insurance Policies - Naming the Community Foundation as a beneficiary of their insurance policy enables them to create a charitable legacy without invading cash or other assets designated for their heirs.

• Retirement Account Assets - Double taxation on retirement plan withdrawals decreases their value for their heirs. Your clients should consider providing other assets to heirs and naming the Community Foundation as the beneficiary of their retirement accounts. They can save taxes and preserve hard-earned assets for the good of our community.

Community Foundations, by their nature, offer very flexible and unique tools for your client’s philanthropic needs. Contact us today to start the conversation.

Investment Information

The Bank of New York Mellon is CFBC's investment manager in additional to an internal fund that is managed by the CFBC Investment Committee.  The CFBC Investment Committee oversees all investments and investment decisions.  The Atlanta Consulting Group serves as an Investment Consultant to the Investment Committee and Board of Directors.