Our door is open: What happens when you meet with us

29 May Our door is open: What happens when you meet with us

At the Community Foundation of Grant County, we are honored to work with generous individuals and families like you who’ve established funds to support the causes you care about and the needs of our community both now and in the future. We’re also inspired by those of you who are getting to know the Foundation and considering establishing a charitable fund to support your charitable goals.

Wherever you are in the stages of your philanthropic planning, the team at the Community Foundation is here for you and considers our relationship to be personal. That’s why we welcome the opportunity to meet with our fund holders and prospective fund holders. Here are a few insights into what those meetings are all about.

You can expect personal, individual service. Unlike financial institutions’ donor-advised fund platforms where access to a dedicated donor services team can be rare, we’re here to help you every step of the way along your charitable giving journey. Our team is happy to meet with you one-on-one to assess your current situation and determine the best way to meet your charitable goals. This includes evaluating the best assets to give to your fund or funds at the Foundation, including publicly-traded stock and even other noncash assets such as real estate or closely-held stock.

We care about your intentions for your fund. We want to understand the areas of interest that are a priority for you, whether that’s the arts, health care, social services, education, community development, or something else. We also want to understand the role you envision for the successor advisors you’ve named in the fund documentation, such as your children, who will make decisions about the fund when you are no longer living or able to manage the fund yourself.

We will help you establish additional funds to meet your goals. Sometimes when working with a fund holder, we discover that it’s worth adding one or more additional funds to complement the fund structure already in place. For example, some fund holders decide to also establish a designated fund for a particular nonprofit organization or an unrestricted fund to support the Foundation’s mission in perpetuity. Many times, fund holders decide to make recurring contributions over time to multiple funds to achieve their various philanthropy goals.

We make the paperwork a breeze. As you know if you’ve already established a fund at the Community Foundation, the paperwork is straightforward and not at all cumbersome. As we’re exploring updating your existing fund, setting up a new fund, or adding additional types of funds to your portfolio, we’ll prepare simple documentation to capture your wishes, collect important contact information, and address your vision for your fund or funds both during and after your lifetime.

We’re always here to strategize about your giving options. As you periodically review your assets and financial situation with your advisors, keep an eye out for appreciated assets that could be ideal to give to your fund(s) because of the potential capital gains tax savings. We can work with you and your advisors on contributions of a wide variety of assets to help you achieve your tax and estate planning goals. We are happy to go over the appraisal and documentation requirements for gifts of nonmarketable assets such as closely-held stock and real estate.

Thank you for your commitment to philanthropy! If you’re already a fund holder, we are grateful that you’ve made the choice to organize your giving by working with the Community Foundation. If you’re considering getting started, we look forward to continuing the conversation! In either case, we look forward to seeing you soon!