Fund Options

Each Grand Rapids Community Foundation donor is unique. The Community Foundation is here to help you achieve your personal philanthropic goals. These flexible fund types have been created to meet your needs and desired outcomes.

Fund for the Community Good

Together, our professional grantmaking staff, volunteer Resource Committee and Board of Trustees will select the best programs to meet Kent County’s most pressing needs. As community needs change, so will the programs that your fund supports.

The greater Grand Rapids area is developing quickly, with dramatic changes throughout the community and the surrounding vicinity. A diverse variety of people and businesses are entering (and sometimes leaving) the community creating new opportunities and challenges. The community's economic, educational, health and social needs are constantly shifting. Addressing these issues becomes more challenging as the population grows.

With change and transition, what is a concern of today may not be an issue in the future. Through a conscientious effort and hard work issues of today like homelessness, AIDS, illiteracy may become like polio tomorrow - nearly obsolete.

Grand Rapids Community Foundation is able to help philanthropists meet the ever-changing needs of our community with a gift to the Fund for Community Good, an unrestricted permanent endowment. An unrestricted gift or fund accommodates societal and community changes and allows the donor to support a broad range of present and emerging needs.

Community needs are difficult to anticipate many years in advance; but with an unrestricted fund, Foundation staff can assess community needs and make grants to nonprofit organizations that engage in the most essential work. The flexibility of an unrestricted fund empowers the Community Foundation to support long-term solutions to problems facing education, human services, health, cultural and the ecological frameworks of our community.

Field of Interest Fund

You select a specific area of interest, such as the arts, environment, children or health, and establish a fund to benefit it.

 

Charles "Bob" Evenson, a lifelong outdoorsman, was passionate about preserving Michigan's lands and waters. Lucy Barnett felt great compassion for elderly people in need.Mary and David Hunting cared deeply for children and believed that positive camping experiences had the power to transform young lives.

Because of the heartfelt dreams and generous bequests of Mr. Evenson, Ms. Barnett, and the Huntings, Grand Rapids Community Foundation today holds a field of interest fund in each of their names. It is impossible to anticipate the needs that the environment, the elderly population, or summer youth camps will face in future years. But because of the commitment of caring people, those causes will have a secure source of funding through Grand Rapids Community Foundation.

Your fund will award grants to projects or programs within your specified area and carry your name or the name of a loved one in perpetuity. When we approve a grant to an organization in that specific field of interest, we make the gift in your name.

Key benefits to remember:

• Create a lasting gift in one or more special interest areas
• Receive an immediate tax deduction
• Add to your fund at any time

Donor Advised Fund

A donor advised fund at Grand Rapids Community Foundation is simple to establish and operate. The Community Foundation is responsible for making sure that legal requirements for investment, distributions and payouts are met. Advised funds allow you to manage your charitable giving without the work and expense of running a private foundation.

With a donor advised fund, you can refer requests to us, give anonymously, or suggest we make payments to any charity that meets IRS guidelines. Then, we take care of all the administrative details. Under the Internal Revenue Service rules, our board must approve all grants. Our grant allocation procedure protects you by making sure your grantees meet the legal standards for charitable intent.

Donor advised funds also offer the option of allowing your children or grandchildren to participate as advisors during your life, or take over as advisors after your death. More and more people are choosing this option to include the next generation in family philanthropy, and to pass on the value of charitable giving.

After the death of the last advisor, donor advised funds retain their name and preserve the legacy of the contributor, but become unrestricted or field of interest funds.

Two Fund Choices

• Legacy Fund The Legacy Fund is established with a gift of $50,000 or more. This fund is permanently endowed at the Community Foundation and each year a percentage of the fund’s market value is used for grants that you recommend. The fund is permanent and perpetual—a great way to ensure that causes you care about are supported long into the future. People who have a strong interest in ensuring the future well-being of Grand Rapids might opt for the Legacy Fund.
• Dynamic Fund The Dynamic Fund is established with a gift of at least $250,000. Of this amount, $50,000 is permanently endowed, with the remaining balance available for immediate grantmaking. This type of fund is permanent, but is designed for the donor who wishes to make more grants than the Legacy Fund allows.

A Private Foundation Alternative

A Donor Advised Fund is a good option for those who wish to be involved in philanthropy personally or with their families, but prefer not to handle the administrative and organizational duties that come with a private foundaiton.  Read Arv and Pearl Tap's story.

Key benefits to remember:

• Create a lasting gift in your name or in the name of a loved one
• Establish a fund which acts like a private foundation without the administrative work and expense
• Participate in the grantmaking process
• Access the expertise of the Community Foundation's professional staff
• Add to your fund at any time
• Receive an immediate tax deduction

Scholarship Fund

A Board-approved volunteer committee reviews applications for the scholarship and selects the top recipients based on your criteria. If you choose, you can be part of the selection process.

Higher education has long been seen as one of the surest paths to increased opportunity. Unfortunately, many young people who could benefit the most from a college education are least able to afford it. Scholarship funds help them on their path to higher education. Grand Rapids Community Foundation holds funds for aspiring artists, engineers, musicians, pilots, teachers and others.

Applications are available online, and awards are decided based on a competitive process, which considers academic achievement, extracurricular activities, a statement of the applicant's personal aspirations and goals and financial need. Advisory committees, comprised of responsible and knowledgeable community members, help screen and select candidates. They make recommendations to the Community Foundation's Board of Trustees. You may designate a member of your family to participate in the scholarship selection process if you wish.

Like other Grand Rapids Community Foundation funds, scholarship funds are endowed, and may be named to honor loved ones. Community Foundation staff handles all details of awarding scholarships—from announcing their availability to processing applications to writing the checks.

Since the inception of Grand Rapids Community Foundation's scholarship program in 1945, the Community Foundation has awarded more than 5,000 scholarships. Each year, more than half a million dollars in scholarships are awarded to students.

Key benefits to remember:

• Create a lasting gift in your name or in the name of a loved one
• Help students from any high school in Kent County attend any college
• Improve the lives of young people through continued education
• Participate in the scholarship selection process
• Receive an immediate tax deduction

Nonprofit Endowment Fund

Provides endowment funding for a specific nonprofit organization and can be set up to allow the organization to continue to build the fund over time.