Contemplating your Legacy? Endowments provide a meaningful way to support your favorite charity.

Local nonprofits are essential to a healthy and thriving community. Whether the organization is providing services that meet the basic needs of our most vulnerable neighbors, such as food and housing, or offering programs that enhance the arts and reflect Palm Beach County’s diverse culture, all are contributing to the good health and wellbeing of our community. 

Though nonprofits provide essential services, their impact can be limited by a number of constraints. Nonprofits are often operated by a small-but-mighty staff, who are busy serving a community where the need is greater than available resources. Entrenched in day-to-day operations, staff focus can easily center on meeting community needs, rather than sustaining operations by identifying and securing fundraising pipelines. 

By establishing a permanent endowment fund, you can provide a stable stream of income to your favorite nonprofit, allow hard-working staff to stay focused on their service to our community, and support a mission that is close to your heart now and forever. Here are a few ways that endowment funds can make lasting impact: 

• An endowment lives in perpetuity. When you establish an endowment fund, the total amount of your gift is invested. Only a portion of the income earned from the investment is used annually to support your designee, and the remainder is added to the principal for growth.
   
• Your gift will grow. Because income earned from your fund is reinvested, you are guaranteeing perpetual growth and a predictable income stream to your charity of choice.
   
• You’ll help take the pressure off. An endowment lessens the pressure for your organization’s staff to spend precious time and resources fundraising for operating dollars and helps to smooth the ups and downs of economic business cycles.
   
• Your support provides stability. With secure funding, the nonprofit you support will have the freedom to focus on fully carrying out its mission, leading to greater visibility, impact, and a lasting legacy.

You or your professional advisor can partner with a local community foundation to establish an endowment fund with ease. As you work with foundation staff, you can identify a favorite charity to benefit from your gift or share the causes close to your heart and allow staff to guide you to an organization that aligns with your charitable interests. 

Here are a few steps outlining how to start an endowment (long-term) fund and build a simple, efficient, and permanent source of income for your organization of choice:

1. Define your charitable and financial objectives. Community foundations work directly with you and your financial advisor to customize a charitable plan and offer you significant tax advantages.
2. Select the type and purpose of your fund. Foundations offer a wide variety of fund types to satisfy your charitable giving needs now and in the future. As a donor, you may designate specific charitable distributions to any qualified nonprofit organization, including churches and schools. You may establish broad areas of charitable interest, or you may ask the foundation to make grants on your behalf, where community need is greatest.
3. Determine which assets you will use in creating your fund. You can establish a fund either with a direct contribution of cash, appreciated securities, or other assets during your lifetime or through a legacy gift, or both.
4. Name Your Fund. Many donors choose a family name, but you may also choose a name that is meaningful to you. In the naming process, provide background information that may be of interest to grant or scholarship recipients. If you wish to remain anonymous, we suggest you select a name that reflects your fund’s charitable interest.

It is That Simple. Community foundations have expert knowledge of the local nonprofit landscape and can identify meaningful giving opportunities. Foundation staff can provide expertise, administer gifts and assist potential donors and their advisors on technical gift planning issues, which will make it an easy process.

If you would like to leave a legacy gift that ensures your charitable mission will continue long after you are gone, consider an endowment gift through a community foundation.