A Community Foundation Can Offer Many Different Kinds of Funds for Giving.

Are you hesitant to release control of your donations to a specific charity? A community foundation such as Pinellas Community Foundation offers donors a choice of funds, and provides flexibility to tailor your gifts to meet your planned giving objectives.

1. Endowment Funds. You can memorialize its creator or the creator’s family; for example, the I’mLoganIt Foundation. Such funds may be named.

2. Field of Interest Funds. As the donor, you choose the charitable field of interest that your fund will support. For example, you may wish your donation be used to advance the arts, the environment or social services. These fields may either be general or narrow and specific. Although you choose the field that interests you, the Pinellas Community Foundation selects the most appropriate organization based on the current needs of the community and the viability of the charity.

3. Unrestricted Funds. The community foundation can put your gift’s income and principal to work where it is needed in the community. As a donor you would enable us to manage the distribution of your funds. The foundation identifies community needs and distributes these funds through grants according to those needs.

4. Donor Advised Funds. You or your designate retain the privilege to control the charity or community project to receive the fund’s income. As the donor, you have a continuing right and responsibility to designate the charitable recipient of the fund’s income and/or principal.

5. Designated Funds. At the time the fund is created, you designate a particular public charity or interest that the fund will support.

6. An Agency Endowment is a designated fund that supports a particular charity. Generally, a local public charity enters into a relationship with our foundation. Then a fund is established in the name of the charity and donors can donate to this fund knowing that the income will go to the charity. The charity then solicits for donations to the designated fund. Many memorial scholarships are set up in this manner.

We hope you have a better understanding of the variety of ways a community foundation like ours can help you with your charitable decision-making process. The Pinellas Community Foundation is very flexible and easy to work with – and if you want any more information on the funds listed above, please don’t hesitate to give us a call at 727.531.0058.

 

Time to Turn Thoughts to Giving

It’s that time of year when the joy and thoughts of giving are upon us. Whether it’s shopping for Christmas presents, observing Hanukkah, celebrating Kwanzaa or the day of Enlightenment – take time to not only think about your family and loved ones, but those in your community who are not as fortunate as you. There are many families and organizations in Pinellas County that could use your help. If you have the time, volunteering can warm your heart, but if you are super busy, a donation to your favorite charity or organization would be welcomed more than you can imagine.

For example, the Pinellas Community Foundation is committed to making the Pinellas County community a better place to live. Through the generosity and dedication of our donors, advisors, and community leaders, we serve the community in the following roles:

1. Support non-profit organizations in Pinellas County so they may continue to provide effective and productive programs that benefit the community you live in.

2. Serve donors who seek knowledge of community needs and of effective charitable giving vehicles. There are a variety of ways to give, the Pinellas Community Foundation can help you with the options.

3. Connect to the local community and know its needs. The Pinellas Community Foundation manages programs to deliver grants and scholarships, support special interest endeavors, and address priority community needs.

There are many less fortunate individuals and families in Pinellas County that could use your help, either with your time or a donation focused on those in need. So call the Pinellas Community Foundation today at 727-531-0058, and we can help you fulfill your philanthropic wishes and find the right cause to help those in need today and in the future.

The staff of Pinellas Community Foundation wishes each of you a happy, healthy holiday season with a year that brings you peace and comfort throughout the year.