Giving Options
Investing in charity is our focus. Your wants and desires are of primary importance to us and that includes making sure that you can give an amount you are comfortable with. The various funds established by donors, or the single gifts that are given so generously, all add up important investments in charity. It is through these monies that we are able to provide grants to area non-profits serving our community and region. While most funds require a minimum of $10,000 to be created, this amount can be built up over several years and does not have to be available up front in order to establish the fund. For example, you may wish to donate $2,000 over a five-year period. If the establishment of a fund still seems daunting, then you can always donate toward the Associates Fund or one of our seven Field of Interests Funds. A gift of $50 or more annually to the Associates Fund provides you a way in which to be a part of the Foundation family, while gifts to a Field of Interest in any amount, as often as you wish, will benefit an area that closely matches what is dear to your heart while enabling anyone of any age to be a philanthropist. If you have something else in mind go ahead and give us a call. We can take stock, property/real estate, or IRA rollovers, and we also create unitrusts, gift annuities or Charitable Lead Trusts. The options are numerous. And if you are looking for great reasons to give, here are just a few:

• Giving to the Community Foundation is the best and easiest way to put a multi-year or lifetime plan for philanthropy into place.
• Only at the Community Foundation can you obtain the advantages of charitable trusts in combination with the many types of charitable funds available at the Foundation.
• Receiving the maximum tax deduction allowed by law on contributions. Giving to the Community Foundation at the end of the year is the best way to get the most tax savings for your contribution.

We would be glad to discuss end-of-year gifts to achieve your philanthropic and tax planning objectives. Just contact us at (818) 241-8040. Remember, charitable funds are versatile, durable and as unique as the donors who create them. Our donor-advised funds are initially established on amounts as small as $10,000 (our minimum) to as large as a donor wishes to make it. But their growth in size, no matter the initial start-up amount, is limitless! The purpose of any fund, of course, is very unique and personal to each donor. Their purposes stretch from the all-encompassing "meeting local needs" to more exact specifications such as "providing scholarships to graduates of Crescenta Valley High School" or "to provide music books for the Brand Library Collection" and to the more general specification of "to help needy families and unfortunate children." Naming your fund is also fun! Selected names can be as general as "Montrose Search & Rescue Endowment Fund" or as family-proud as the "Cheryl DuFour Fund." So feel free to think about what you want your fund to contribute toward and what it should be called. We are happy to work with you to build a fund you are excited about. Charitable funds are as diverse as the donors who establish them, yet all work in essentially the same simple way: For good. For ever.