Services & Funds

We support professional advisors and your clients in a myriad of ways, including the following:

​

  • Devising charitable strategies that help your client make informed decisions,

  • Structuring a gift agreement that meets your client's charitable goals,

  • Managing the transfer of all potential types of gifts — securities, real estate, promissory notes, qualified retirement plans, life insurance, and others,

  • Providing sample language for bequests and other deferred gifts,

  • Serving as a trustee of charitable remainder trusts and charitable lead trusts,

  • administering charitable gift annuities, and

  • Providing tax deduction and life income illustrations for planned giving vehicles.


KCF's staff provides in-depth, substantive research and first-hand experience of non-profits and communities throughout Kitsap County. We also bring tremendous efficiencies to charitable giving and decision making. We identify philanthropic vehicles and approaches that result in maximum tax advantages for KCF's donors, while also helping your clients fulfill their charitable wishes and planning goals.

 

The minimum dollar amount to establish a permanent fund is $5,000, although the fund must reach $10,000 in donated assets within 3 years. Non-permanent funds (which we call "pass-through funds") do not have a minimum. 

Types of Funds

Unrestricted Funds

Maybe your client just wants to make a large gift or leave a legacy for the general support of the community. Your client doesn't want to pick and choose particular nonprofits. If that's the case, then an unrestricted fund is what your client wants. We run an annual "competitive grant program" that accepts applications from any nonprofit in the community. Through that process each year, we'll decide the best way to use the income from your client's fund. In this way, your client can be assured that their donation will support a wide range of the highest community needs, including education and culture, health, environment, and social and civic services.



KCF Operating Fund

Maybe your client believes deeply in the Community Foundation's work and understand that supporting the Community Foundation is a way to support all nonprofits and, thereby, support the entire community. If that's the case, you client can donate to or leave a bequest to the Foundation's own Operating Fund. This is an endowment fund that will exist forever to support the work of the Community Foundation. This is a simple way to leave a gift that will support the entire community forever -- a true legacy.



Designated Funds

Maybe your client is interested in donating to just one or a few specific nonprofits. If that's the case, then your client is looking for a "designated fund." With this type of fund, your client donates assets into the fund now or through their estate and the Community Foundation then distributes those funds to the specific nonprofits designated by your client. We can manage this as an endowed fund, which means it will exist forever and we'll distribute income to the designated nonprofit(s) each year. Or we can manage this so that we distribute a particular amount to each nonprofit each year and spend down the entire fund within a certain number of years. Should the designated organization(s) cease to exist or the purpose it served become obsolete over the years, the Foundation has the responsibility to reallocate the fund to a similar organization to continue to reflect your client's wishes.



Field-of-Interest Funds

Let's say your client wants to donate a sum of money now or through their estate that will support a certain type of charitable activity or area of nonprofit work. For instance, maybe your client wants their legacy to provide assistance to handicapped people, counseling programs for veterans, support for the arts, education, etc. In this case, your client is looking for what we call a "field-of-interest fund." With this fund, the Foundation, acting through its staff, Grant Committee, and Board of Directors, will seek out and select the community agencies which best serve the purpose specified by your client. Or, if you're client would like, your client can work with us to decide which particular nonprofits we should donate to each year. We can manage his as an endowed fund, which means it will exist forever and we'll distribute income to appropriate nonprofit(s) each year. Or we can manage this so that we distribute a particular amount to appropriate nonprofits each year and spend down the entire fund within a certain number of years.



Family Foundation

Does your client want to establish a family foundation? Or maybe your client simply wants to set up a charitable fund that they can use to make donations every year. Although they might not think of it as such, that is a family foundation. We can do this for your client. In fact, the cheapest, easiest, and most effective way to create a family foundation is to set up your family foundation within the Community Foundation. We build your client's family foundation on the structure of a donor advised fund. Basically, your client contributes assets to their fund/foundation whenever they want and as often as they want, we administer every aspect of the Foundation, and all your client has to do is tell us what organizations they'd like to make donations to and when they'd like to do that. See more details here.



Scholarship Funds

These funds enable deserving young people to get the education they might not otherwise receive. We prefer flexibility so we can meet the greatest needs, but your client can, if they choose, specify: either the schools the students are to come from or the ones they are to attend; their course of study or career path; any level of post highschool training, either university, college, or vocational school; whether the scholarship is need-based or merit-based; etc. Your client can create a scholarship in their name or the name of a loved one. We will ensure the scholarship conforms to the strict standards of impartiality and integrity. Your client can be involved in choosing the scholarship recipients each year or leave it to our Scholarship Committee. We can manage the scholarship as an endowed fund, which means it will exist forever and we'll award scholarships each year. Or we can manage this so that we distribute a particular amount in scholarships each year and spend down the entire fund within a certain number of years.



Agency Fund

Maybe your client is a nonprofit organization that is going to receive a large bequest and wants to set up an endowment fund for itself. Unless it's a seven-figure endowment, it's most effective and efficient to set up the endowment with the Community Foundation. A nonprofit organization may establish an endowment fund at KCF with the income restricted to support of that particular nonprofit. This is similar to a designated fund, and is typically created by the non-profit rather than by a donor. Donors find reassurance in knowing that KCF provides the stability, expertise and credibility to administer an endowment fund in perpetuity.



Pass-Through Funds

What if your client wants to make a large gift to single nonprofit or a set of nonprofits in a short time-frame? We can help them with that by setting up what we call a "pass-through fund." We would enter into an agreement with your client that directs the nonprofit(s) to which we must distribute your clients funds and the timeframe within which we must make the distribution(s). There are lots of reasons why this type of fund can be useful to your clients:

  • When your clients gives through the Community Foundation, their gifts can be completely anonymous. This helps protect your clients from unsolicited mailings and emails.
  • We can be a "charitable bank account" through which your clients donate to all their favorite nonprofits each year. Benefits are: (1) this generates only one tax deduction receipt each year, which simplifes record-keeping and tax return preparation; (2) they can log into their charitable "account" at any time to see exactly who they've already donated to this year; (3) we send all the checks to the nonprofits; all your client needs to do is tell us who they want to donate to and we take care of it.
  • We can handle all types of gifts -- cash, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, IRAs, real estate, cars, art, etc. Many nonprofits can not handle this full range of gifts. And we can take a large, undividable gift (such as a piece of real property), sell it, and divide the proceeds out to numerous nonprofits on your clients' behalf.
  • We can negotiate and draft a Grant Agreement with a nonprofit to which your client wants to donate a large sum of money, including multi-year pledges. This gives your client added protection to make sure their gift is used appropriately.



Donor Advised Fund

Please see the description directly above for "family foundation." We refer to donor advised funds at Kitsap Community Foundation as family foundations.



Supporting Organization

A supporting organization is a separate nonprofit corporation that qualifies as a public charity through its affiliation with the Kitsap Community Foundation. It is established by an individual, family or business with a gift of at least $500K. We provide an array of philanthropic and administrative services to make the giving experience simple and enjoyable.

A supporting organization is:

  • An excellent alternative to a private foundation
  • Fewer administrative responsibilities
  • Lower cost
  • Select some board members, which may include family members
  • Maintain personal involvement
  • Retain your identity
  • Support cherished causes
  • Our skilled Finance & Investment Team will provide world class support