DESIGNATED/NONPROFIT FUNDS

Donors who wish to support a specific agency or cause can establish a designated fund. If the original charity ceases to exist, becomes obsolete or is unable to perform their charitable purposes, our Board of Directors is able to redirect the funds to an organization providing similar services without the cost of expensive legal action.

What is a designated fund?
A designated fund at the Community Foundation of West Georgia can help you secure your favorite organization’s financial future so that its mission continues, uninterrupted, even in the face of challenges.

You can set up multiple designated funds if you’d like to support more than one organization. You can even set up a designated fund to support a governmental unit, such as the parks department.
A designated fund allows you to decide on the timing of the distributions from the fund, such as during the organization’s capital campaign or to support a specific program or initiative.
You can serve as an advisor to the fund to recommend the timing and amount of grants to the supported organization, or you can appoint the board of directors of CFWG to carry out this function according to your wishes.

How does the community foundation help?

The board of directors and professional staff at the Community Foundation of West Georgia are deeply connected to the community and stay fully informed about community needs and the nonprofit organizations that are addressing those needs to improve quality of life.
CFWG can react quickly amid changes. For example, if the organization named in your designated fund ceases to exist and has no legal successors, the community foundation can quickly shift grant making from your fund to an alternate organization named in your designated fund agreement or, if none is named, to other organizations that are serving the same charitable purpose as the organization your originally selected.

How does a designated fund work?
The Community Foundation of West Georgia works with you to set up a designated fund to support a specific favorite charitable organization.

You can select a name for your designated fund, whether it’s your name, your family’s name, the name of the organization you’re supporting, or something else.
You make a gift of cash, stock, or other assets to the community foundation, and the assets are placed in the designated fund.
You are eligible for an income tax deduction on assets transferred to the fund upon establishment, and on future transfers you make to the fund.
You and other advisors to the fund, or the board of directors at the community foundation, as the case may be, oversee distributions (grants) from the designated fund to your chosen charity according to the parameters laid out in the fund document.