Gift Acceptance Policies

We all have to start somewhere, and knowing what we can say “ yes” to is an important part of that beginning.
Below you will find the website address to the Gift Acceptance Policies of The Community Foundation. If you do not have current policies in place, ours might be a good set to review and possibly adopt, at least in part; if you already have policies in place, you may want to compare them against your existing policies, to see where there may be overlap, and to identify areas where The Community Foundation can provide a solution in working with a donor. We are happy to review your current acceptance policies at any point.

Giving Guidelines [PDF]

General Considerations

Stock:

If you don’t already have an account set up to receive readily marketable securities, you should take the necessary steps to do so. Gifts of appreciated stock are highly advantageous to the donor.

Bequests:

Depending on your financial situation, you could use gift acceptance policies that earmark bequests below a certain amount for unrestricted purposes and above a certain amount for endowment. An overwhelming percentage of gifts by bequest are unrestricted, making your policy an important strategic decision. There are many variations in gift acceptance policies for bequests and you will need to find one that works well for your organization, its governance and its fiscal health for the long-term.

Real Estate & Tangible Personal Property:

The expertise of The Community Foundation is availiable to you when donors inquire about making such gifts; either to walk you through the initial and necessary steps for your organization to proceed with (or decline in some cases) such a gift; or you can work in partnership with The Community Foundation, where working jointly with your donor to help the gift come to fruition and to establish a permanent endowed fund for your organization.

Life Income Gifts:

The Planned Giving Partnership with The Community Foundation is designed so that your donors can make gifts that pay them (or someone they choose) income from a gift before it benefits your organization through charitable gift annuities and charitable trusts.

Charitable Lead Trusts:

These trusts are most pertinent to donors with a very high net worth and extensive tax liabilities to give the benefits of a gift to your organization before the gift goes to heirs. The Community Foundation can play an advisory role in setting up this type of trust but the donor needs to work primarily with his/her professional advisors.

Life Insurance:

Fully paid up policies that the donor no longer depends on can easily be reassigned to your organization as the owner and beneficiary (policies that are not fully paid up should be carefully evaluated on a case by case basis).

IRA & Other Qualified Retirement Plans:

These are “light-lifting” legacy gifts for your donors. The administrative paperwork varies a bit from financial institution to financial institution but is fairly straightforward. The donor simply names your organization as a beneficiary of their plan, and can do so for a percentage, the entirety or a fixed dollar amount. Gifts of retirement assets are ideal charitable vehicles as they have tax ramifications if received by heirs.

Bank, Checking and Investment Accounts:

Again, this is a matter of updating paperwork with the financial institution and your charity can benefit directly when a donor names you as the beneficiary of an account.

Your organization may use The Community Foundation for any viable gift transaction within The Community Foundation’s gift acceptance policy. In most cases the gift will be used to set up or added to an existing endowment fund at The Community Foundation to benefit your organization. We are available, however, in an advisory role, for your donors who prefer to make planned gifts directly to your organization.