Our donors help us build our community
The Rochester Area Foundation is a place for people of good will to invest in our community. Those who choose to use the Foundation know that funds are wisely managed and used to support programs that invigorate new ideas. You may want to look at our Lifetime Giving chart. This chart is a measure of the confidence our benefactors have shown in the Foundation's community influence.
Creating and building endowments is one way for you to be part of the solution today and into the future. Endowment funds offer the flexibility of preserving the wishes of donors, plus meet the changing needs of the community over time.
Benefits to donors
- Charitable impact: By working with contributions from many donors, gifts of all sizes leverage their impact on the community. In addition, over the years, each permanent gift will support grants totaling many times the original contribution.
- Performance and flexibility: The spirit and intent of each donor's charitable wishes is honored through the generations, regardless of the shifts and changes within our region. If the intended purposes of your gift become obsolete, the Foundation's authority to amend provisions of your fund will ensure that the fund will continue to meet challenges as they emerge in the future.
- Peace of mind: Creating a fund or contributing to an existing fund is a simple process. Once complete, you retain the satisfaction of giving while the Foundation takes care of the paper work. The Foundation's Board of Trustees prudently manages the funds. Because funds in a community Foundation are pooled for investment purposes, donors have the advantage of a diverse investment mix. You can add new gifts at any time, which is a real advantage in tax planning.
- Personal benefits: Because the Rochester Area Foundation is a public charity rather than a private foundation, you receive the maximum available tax benefits for charitable contributions. Those who create donor-advised funds receive a tax credit in the year the gift is given and then may suggest distribution from the fund over a longer period of time.
- Accountability: Annual reporting through an independent audit and filing tax returns, public disclosure of all grant activities and careful selection of members for the Board of Trustees assure continued use of funds in the public interest.
- Choose a type of fund: An unrestricted fund allows the Foundation to use its discretion in distributing grants to innovative and worthwhile programs. Or you may prefer to designate your funds for a specific purpose or to benefit a specific charitable organization. You also may choose to advise the Foundation regarding prospective grants from your fund.
- Choose a name for your fund: Most funds are named for the donor's family or as a memorial to someone special. You may prefer anonymity or a name that reflects your fund's charitable purpose.
When to create a fund
There are many times for individuals, families and corporations to make gifts - large or small - to the Rochester Area Foundation.
- Giving now: The charities you support now can continue to be supported during your lifetime and in perpetuity through the establishment of a fund with the Rochester Area Foundation.
- Future giving: There are many attractive arrangements for giving future or deferred gifts. Deferred gifts give you the benefit of a current tax deduction in exchange for the commitment of funds to a charitable purpose or purposes at some later date, often after your death. The result may be an increase in current spendable income for you or your family and later a substantial fund to help others through the Rochester Area Foundation. The remainder interest in real estate, charitable remainder trusts, charitable lead trusts and gifts of life insurance all can be used to create funds in the Rochester Area Foundation.
- Bequests through wills and trusts: After providing for your loved ones, you will want to consider creating a fund at the Rochester Area Foundation or adding to the one you already have. Estate taxes are saved and the good works you care about during your lifetime continue to benefit through a living memorial established with the Rochester Area Foundation.