Why Open a Fund at the Community Foundation?

As living memorials, funds at the Community Foundation carry out your charitable interests in perpetuity. If your fund's purpose becomes outdated over time, we'll redirect it to similar purposes.

We are a public charity, not a private foundation, so all donations qualify for the maximum available deduction for charitable contributions. Our funds also avoid the excise taxes and other restrictions placed on private foundations.

We understand the needs and roles of nonprofit organizations in central Illinois, so we can target grants where they do the most good. By pooling contributions for administration and investment purposes, we incur lower management costs than a private foundation. More of your money goes to charity, rather than to overhead.

You can name your fund or remain anonymous, choose general charitable purposes or very specific ones, make modest gifts or large ones, and donate assets ranging from cash to real estate to artwork.

Most funds can be created in one brief meeting. Afterward, you can retain the satisfaction of giving while we take care of management and paperwork.