Create a Fund

A community fund is flexible and designed for maximum impact. We depend on these broadly responsive funds to proactively address the evolving needs of the community and support innovative responses through our community grantmaking and initiatives.

Giving without restrictions ensures that your gift will support the greatest needs today and in the future, preserving your charitable legacy and keeping relevant even as times change. By giving to a community fund, you are joining forces with other donors who share a genuine commitment to strengthening our region – today and for generations to come.

A donor-advised fund allows you to be actively engaged in the grantmaking process by giving you the ability to advise on distributions to specific charities. Your fund can make grants to the local, national and global organizations that you wish to support. Our staff is also available to identify organizations that match your charitable interests.

Recommending grants from your fund is simple and can be managed through an online account or by contacting a development team member. We handle the managerial tasks, from investment administration to grants management. You may also designate a successor advisor to the fund – an effective way to engage family members in charitable activity.

A field-of-interest fund allows you to focus your impact on a specific interest area, such as the arts, education or the environment and can have one or more charitable preferences, which might include a geographic area, community issue, or type of population to be served. Unlike a one-time gift or memorial, our field-of-interest funds are designed to continue for generations, extending your contribution to the area or issue of your choice long after the original gift is made.

The most pressing needs in an interest area today may not be the same two years or two decades from now. We monitor the progression of your interest area and choose organizations whose services are making the greatest impact.

A designated fund allows you to provide lasting support for organizations you have cared about most during your life. One fund can be established to support several organizations; donors sometimes specify percentages of a fund’s spendable amount to support designated charities.

As a steward of your fund, we will monitor the designated charities, and if one ceases operations or changes its purpose, we will use your original charitable intentions to guide the future use of your fund.

Nonprofit organizations can create a charitable fund to sustainably support their missions. We accept contributions from your supporters, manage the fund, administer complex gifts, oversee compliance requirements and distribute a prudent amount each year to your organization.

Nonprofit agency funds allow your organization to focus on the mission of your nonprofit and not the requirements for prudent investment management. Our professional management protects the long-term value of the fund and promotes growth to provide a consistent annual spendable amount. We also handle the fund’s administrative tasks – keeping track of gifts, handling multi-year pledges and sending acknowledgement letters.

Creating a scholarship fund can help students pursue their dreams by advancing their education. The gift of education that a scholarship fund creates is a permanent tribute to the person or organization for which it is named.

You can determine the scholarship purpose and selection criteria, and we manage the details to ensure that awards are disbursed in accordance with your wishes and in compliance with all applicable regulations. We can assist you with determining the scholarship’s eligibility criteria and award amount as well as assist in the identification of an appropriate selection process. The minimum award amount from a scholarship fund is $1,000 per student.

We handle the managerial tasks of your fund – from investment administration to grants management – all for a nominal administrative fee. This fee also makes you part of the change we enable in Central New York by supporting community grantmaking and convenings, facilitated dialogues, nonprofit trainings and the promotion of charitable giving that ultimately transforms the communities we call home. Contact us to request more information about our support fees.

Any fund established today as a permanent endowment can significantly multiply in value. The gifts we receive are invested over time. A percentage of a fund’s value is used annually to make grants while preserving the original gift.

For example, a fund established with a $50,000 gift can grow exponentially assuming a 4 percent annual spending rate and a 7 percent rate of return. By year 25, the endowment’s value could grow to more than $86,000 and also have already granted out $63,643 to the community. By year 50, those numbers could grow to an endowment value of $150,000 and more than $170,000 in grants awarded!

Stewardship of the assets entrusted to us is one of our most important responsibilities. Donors place trust in us based on our ability to invest these resources prudently and to use the income produced in accordance with their charitable wishes, today and in the future.