Expanding your impact: FAQs about unrestricted funds

Year-end is a busy, fun time for lots of reasons, including supporting the causes you care about. This season, three occasions celebrate the importance of charitable giving:

• National Philanthropy Day, observed November 15, has been recognized in the U.S. since 1986.

• Community Foundation Week, an annual observance recognizing the work of community foundations across the country, is November 12 to 18 this year.

• GivingTuesday, a global generosity movement, is December 1 this year. (Americans gave $4.0 billion on GivingTuesday 2025, up 13% from the year before!)

Philanthropy takes many forms, and we’re honored every single day to work with so many individuals, families, businesses, and nonprofits to improve quality of life on the Kitsap Peninsula. Whatever your favorite cause, we’re here to help you reach your charitable goals.

Take a moment to reflect on all the ways you give back, from volunteering and serving on nonprofit boards to establishing a donor-advised fund or another type of fund with us to organize your giving. You’re making a difference!

As you think about your “philanthropy portfolio” this giving season, consider expanding your impact with an unrestricted gift to Kitsap Community Foundation, or even establishing an unrestricted fund. An unrestricted fund lets you entrust charitable dollars to our board of directors and professional staff, who determine how best to use those resources to meet the community’s changing needs. Depending on how the fund is structured, it can support our community today and for generations to come.

Here are a few frequently asked questions about unrestricted funds.

Why invest in Kitsap Community Foundation through an unrestricted fund?

• A community foundation’s biggest advantages are its permanent structure, community-based governance, and commitment to meeting changing needs. An unrestricted fund lets you and your family provide support that evolves as priorities on the Kitsap Peninsula shift.

• Our mission is to thoroughly understand our community and improve lives within it.

• Our board and professional staff continually assess community needs and work with local organizations to identify opportunities for impact.

• Establishing an unrestricted fund means investing in our ability to address today’s most pressing needs, and those we can’t yet anticipate.

What are the steps to establish an unrestricted fund?

Our team will work with you to create the documents that establish your unrestricted fund. A few things to know:

• You can name the fund whatever you’d like.

• You can add assets to the fund during your lifetime. Instead, or in addition, you can arrange for the fund to receive a bequest from your will, trust, or beneficiary designation after your death.

• As with other contributions to Kitsap Community Foundation funds, lifetime gifts to your unrestricted fund generally qualify for an income tax charitable deduction, subject to applicable tax rules and limits. Qualifying charitable bequests to the fund may also be eligible for a federal estate tax charitable deduction.

  
  

How is an unrestricted fund administered?

• When you establish an unrestricted fund, you’re engaging our board of directors and professional staff to use the money in the fund for the greatest long-term impact on our community.

• Every day, our team works with board members, civic leaders, and nonprofit organizations to deeply understand where people need help.

• Today, the most pressing need might be emergency assistance after a disaster. Tomorrow, it could be education, youth services, research to improve access to healthcare, or something else entirely.

• We keep a finger on the pulse of our community’s top priorities and work with local partners to find the best ways to address them.

Ways to make an unrestricted gift

You can certainly give cash to establish your unrestricted fund or make an unrestricted gift. Here are other options that may be more tax-advantageous:

• Giving stock or other long-term appreciated assets directly to Kitsap Community Foundation can be more tax-efficient than selling them, paying capital gains tax, and giving the proceeds.

• If you’re 70½ or older, you may be able to make an unrestricted gift, or a gift to an eligible unrestricted fund, through a qualified charitable distribution (QCD) directly from your IRA.

• Naming Kitsap Community Foundation as a beneficiary in your will, trust, or IRA, and directing the gift to an unrestricted fund, is another way to create a lasting legacy.

• As always, please talk with your estate planning and tax advisors about how each type of gift may or may not apply to your situation.

Whether you’re ready to move forward with an unrestricted gift or simply want to learn more, please reach out! Our team is always here for you. Most of all, thank you for all you do on National Philanthropy Day, during Community Foundation Week, on GivingTuesday, and every day to make our community a better place.