HOW TO CREATE A FUND
Creating a fund at the Jewish Community Foundation is easy to do…
and the rewards for you, your family and your community are everlasting.
How It Works
- Select the name for your fund, creating a link for future generations and leaving a lasting legacy.
- You can begin your named fund by gifting a minimum of $10,000 to the JCF. This can be cash, marketable securities, or other assets (upon the approval of the Foundation).
- You immediately receive a tax deduction for the current year in which you gifted the funds, often enjoying significant benefits.
- Meet with the Foundation staff to create a gift agreement which states your wishes for distribution of the Fund.
- Your contributions are professionally-invested and managed and grow over time tax-free, allowing you to give even more to your favorite charity. Currently 5% of the fund’s assets are available for distribution each year and the annual administrative fee is the greater of $250 or 1.25% of the value of the fund.
- You may gift additional assets into your fund during your lifetime or through a testamentary gift via your estate.
- You reap the satisfaction during your lifetime of seeing the benefits your dollars provide to the charities you hold dear.
- You may write your legacy story in the Endowment Book of Life connecting your values with future generations.
FOUNDATION FUNDS
ENDOWMENT FUNDS
What is an Endowment Fund? An Endowment Fund is a permanent fund in your name or in the name of someone you wish to honor. It is established for one or more charitable organizations or for a Field of Interest (described below). Each year the Jewish Community Foundation grants 5% of the fund balance to the charities you specified enabling these organizations to count on these funds forever. You can create an Endowment Fund during your lifetime with current assets or by making a provision in your estate plan. Both will ensure that the organizations you cared so much about during your lifetime will be supported for generations to come.
Designated Endowment
Through a designated endowment fund, you can target your charitable giving to provide a permanent income stream to safeguard the programs, organizations and/or agencies that matter most to you and your family (e.g., your synagogue, a school, camp or Israel scholarships or an annual campaign endowment).
Field of Interest Fund
This type of endowment allows you to direct your gift to an area of concern to you (e.g. Jewish education, community outreach, the elderly, professional enrichment), while giving the Foundation the ability to determine each year how funds will be spent in that particular area.
Fund for Jewish Philanthropy
This unrestricted endowment fund provides grants for new and innovative programs and projects benefiting the Jewish community. This fund also provides the Foundation with much needed financial reserves, which can be drawn upon in times of emergency. Named gifts to the Fund for Jewish Philanthropy provide an indelible link between today’s needs and the promise of a strong and vibrant Jewish community for future generations.
Jewish Women’s Endowment Fund
Established in 2000 by a visionary group of concerned women, the Jewish Women's Endowment Fund (JWEF) seeks to bring about social change by funding projects to expand and improve opportunities and choices in all aspects of the lives of Jewish women and girls.
Establishing an Endowment Fund
Bequest Information
You can establish an endowment gift today with a gift of $10,000 or more. However, if you are unable to fund an endowment during your lifetime, why not consider creating one through your estate? The steps are similar to those above but the funds are gifted after your passing when you no longer need them. Please feel free to call the Foundation office for further assistance with this and to make certain a gift agreement is written to ensure that your charitable wishes will be fulfilled.
How Do I List The Jewish Community Foundation In My Estate?
Creating an endowment through a will or trust is perhaps the easiest way to ensure Jewish continuity while affording you the opportunity to leave a lasting legacy to the community, and perhaps achieve substantial estate tax benefits. A specific dollar amount, asset or portion of your estate can be designated as a bequest to the Jewish Community Foundation. These dollars are the future of the Jewish community and can make a difference in the lives of others without significantly affecting the financial well-being of your heirs.
Below is a link to the language you will need to use to name the Jewish Community Foundation in your estate plans. We suggest that after you have completed your plans, you meet with our staff to create a gift agreement. This agreement outlines how the endowment will be granted once the funds arrive at the Foundation so that the charities you support during your lifetime will have a permanent income stream to safeguard the programs, organizations and/or agencies that matter most to you (e.g., synagogue, a school, camp or Israel scholarships or an annual campaign endowment). This gift agreement can be changed at any time during your lifetime and is not legally binding.
Click here for examples of bequest language
DONOR ADVISED FUNDS
What is a Donor Advised Fund (DAF)? Donor Advised Funds (DAFs) constitute approximately forty percent (40%) of the total assets administered by the Jewish Community Foundation. DAFs are individual charitable funds created in your name, or in a name that you choose, for the purpose of fulfilling philanthropic goals. These types of funds allow you to make a tax-deductible contribution when it is most convenient for you and then allow you to recommend grants over time to qualified non-profit organizations in the Jewish and general communities. Donor Advised Funds are one of the fastest growing philanthropic vehicles in the country. You might think of your Donor Advised Fund as your “Charitable Debit Card.” You put the asset in and JCF makes the grants to the charities you recommend.
Establishing and Using a Donor Advised Fund
Complete simple agreement form provided by the Foundation. Transfer cash, marketable securities or other assets to the Foundation with a value of $10,000 or more. A balance of $10,000 should be maintained at all times. Sample Agreement Form- • You have the ability to support causes that interest you now and in the future
- • You may make recommendations for distributions to any qualified public charities with the approval of the Foundation
- • The minimum distribution from a DAF is $100, with no maximum distribution.
- • Presently, the annual administrative fee is the greater of $250 or 1.25% of the value of the fund
Benefits of a Donor Advised Fund
- • Option of making distributions from income and principal (your fund grows through prudent investment thus giving you more dollars to give away
- • The fund grows tax free
- • No limit to number of distributions you recommend annually
- • Option of making distributions on your own timetable
- • Make distributions to any qualified Jewish and non-Jewish charitable causes, locally, nationally or internationally; distribution cannot represent any pledge or other financial obligation and cannot result in a benefit that may be provided to any person or entity in exchange for the distribution
- • Immediate tax deduction for amounts contributed to the fund, regardless of when charitable distributions are made
- • Elimination of capital gains taxes on contributions of long-term capital gain property
- • Additional contributions accepted in any amount and at any time advantageous to you…helping you manage your tax liability
- • No tax owed on income generated by the fund, thereby increasing the amount available for charitable distributions
- • Simplify your record keeping…providing you with necessary tax acknowledgements, quarterly reporting of fund activity and year end summary
- • You can access your fund online for fund balances, grants made from your fund, contributions made to your fund and the last quarterly fund statement
- • Only one tax receipt necessary
- • Distributions can be done anonymously
- • Professional investment management
- • Pass the right to make recommendations from the fund to the next generation, thereby teaching the next generation the lessons of tzedakah
Now that you know more about these funds, let’s compare them.
Click here to compare funds
So, You’d Like to Have Greater Influence?
Many donors enjoy the opportunity to use their charitable gifts to support a multitude of worthy causes from time to time. They also would like to maintain a greater degree of influence and flexibility over the way in which grants are made to those organizations. And many would like to pass on this spirit of Tzedakah to their children and grandchildren. There are a number of gift vehicles available to meet the needs of these donors.
While a private foundation may be a good option for some donors, others find that the initial cost of establishing a private foundation and the ongoing administrative costs are much higher than they would like. There are other options to consider. For example, the Supporting Organization or a Donor Advised Fund can provide most of the same advantages as a private foundation at a fraction of the cost and with considerably less work. These arrangements are like having a virtual private foundation at your fingertips. They are managed and staffed by the Jewish Community Foundation and they each can support your charitable interests with your advice and counsel. They are flexible and efficient ways of having a named fund at the Jewish Community Foundation that you can use to support your favorite charities through your influence and recommendations.
No matter what type of philanthropic fund you choose to establish,
be sure it is the right one for you.