Donors

Your local community foundation is a “one-stop-shop” for all your charitable giving needs. Gifts to a community foundation also receive the maximum tax advantages for income, gift, and estate tax purposes. A community foundation provides the flexibility to receive unique assets, including grain and collectibles. Finally, a community foundation offers permanence, ensuring your gift and legacy will last forever.

You can give by cash, check, online credit card donation, or other tax-advantaged tools. Donors may give to existing funds or establish a new charitable fund. Community endowment funds allow gifts to grow and be leveraged with other gifts, creating larger grants with greater impact. Donors may also recommend grants through their donor-advised funds to charitable 501(c)(3) organizations they want to support.

Yes! You can support any of the 200+ funds held at SCCF at any time. Every gift, at every level, makes a difference in our community. However, a minimum contribution is required to create any new endowed, named fund. For designated, donor-advised, and unrestricted funds, this amount is $5,000. Field of interest funds have a minimum requirement of $10,000, and scholarship funds are $25,000.

All money managed by SCCF is voluntarily donated by individuals, families, and businesses via cash, publicly traded stocks or securities, tangible personal property, life insurance, etc. Gifts are then permanently endowed, and a committee of volunteers oversees the strategy for investing these. Each year, the earnings from endowment funds are given away through grants and scholarships.

A fund is a pool of money set aside for a charitable purpose. A fund is an ideal opportunity to create a legacy for yourself, your family, and your community. SCCF lets you name, contribute, and decide the fund's purpose. For information on starting a fund, contact Jennifer Danic at 260 665-6656 or jdanic@steubenfoundation.org.

Yes! We encourage donors to work with a financial advisor because they can help you achieve your philanthropic goals or plans for your final estate. Financial advisors and lawyers can walk clients through the tax implications of giving tools or other goals of their estate.

SCCF takes our responsibility to follow through on a donor’s intention any time they make a gift seriously. In most situations, a donor designates a specific organization or charitable purpose to benefit from their gift. The SCCF Board determines where that money is allocated if the donor does not state a purpose. These unrestricted gifts often support our Spirit of the Community fund, which aims to meet the biggest needs in the community.

Donor-advised funds are distinct from private foundations in two ways. First, donor-advised funds benefit from SCCF’s established grantmaking strategy and practices. We can offer donors local knowledge of current community needs and connections with the organizations and individuals addressing those needs. From a technical perspective, a donor-advised fund can provide a simple alternative to the legal and accounting requirements of creating a private foundation. Donor-advised funds use SCCF’s charitable tax status and can be established anonymously. SCCF handles tax reports and audits and ensures the donor’s wishes are carried out permanently. In contrast, private foundations have specific rules about public disclosure and may not offer the same tax advantages.

SCCF is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, tax #35-187065. Tax deductions are earned when the gift is made, while grants from investment earnings continue into the future. For instructions on wiring and transferring, click here: Wiring Instructions.