Athens Area Community Foundation of Georgia

Investing in the Vision

If you are looking for ways that you, your family, your business or your nonprofit organization can leave a legacy in our community, a community foundation offers a variety of ways to make a difference - both now and into the future. As the local center for philanthropy, the economy of scale offered by pooling assets helps AACF maximize investment returns while keeping costs low. AACF stewards these community resources and donors participate in strategic grantmaking.

Community foundation staff can help you choose the type of fund to create - or the existing funds to support - based on your philanthropic goals and interests. Funds can be established during your lifetime or by bequest. Community foundations accept a wide variety of assets, usually deductible at their fair market value, including cash; publicly traded and closely held stock; LP, LLP and LLC shares; retirement assets or IRAs; private foundation assets; life insurance policies; and real estate.

Establishing your own named charitable fund does not require great wealth and it isn't complicated. Plus:

You can provide ongoing support to your favorite organizations.
You can choose different nonprofit organizations to support each year during your lifetime.
You can make your own choices, or take advantage of staff expertise to help you address the community's most pressing challenges.
You have the opportunity to distribute gifts during your lifetime or to leave a lasting legacy in your will - or both.

Who Gives Through the Athens Area Community Foundation?

Individuals, families, businesses, nonprofits, and private foundations can establish a charitable Fund or contribute to an existing Fund at AACF.

AACF accepts a wide variety of assets and provides immediate tax benefit. Donors then have the luxury of time to learn about issues and make informed grant recommendations.

Current Donor Advised Funds:

Benson’s, Inc. Community Fund
Vivian and Mamie Fisher Educational Fund
Heyward Allen Motor Co., Inc. Fund
Kappa Sigma Community Fund
Thornton Brothers, Inc. Fund
E.H. Culpepper Memorial Fund
Charles Briscoe Memorial Fund
Barbara and Frank Rice Memorial Fund

Charitable Funds & How They Work

Donor Advised Funds

Advised funds allow the donor, or persons designated by the donor, the opportunity to make periodic recommendations to the Community Foundation for grants to be made from the fund. Such grants are made in accordance with the donor’s interest.

Advised funds are excellent vehicles for donors to set aside charitable dollars now and distribute them gradually over time. Donors often regard Advised funds as charitable investment accounts, using a portion of the fund’s income to support their favorite charities annually or as needs arise. Donors may also designate their children, or others, as “successor advisors” to recommend grants from the fund. Advised funds provide the maximum tax benefits while ensuring donor involvement over generations. They are an excellent alternative to operating a Private or Family Foundation. Upon the death of the last designated successor advisor, an Advised fund becomes a Discretionary fund or Field of Interest fund within the Foundation, with the annual grant allocations determined thereafter by the Board of Directors.

Anonymous Donors: Some donors do not want recognition for the role that they play in the betterment of their community. Unlike the rules for private foundations, community foundations are not required to disclose the source of a gift.

Discretionary Funds (Unrestricted and Field of Interest)

Unrestricted discretionary funds allow the donor to create a permanent fund to carry out his/her charitable intentions by giving grantmaking discretion to the Foundation. This may be done by leaving the annual grantmaking decisions entirely to the Foundation’s Grants Committee which reviews all proposals for funding. Field of Interest discretionary funds allow a donor to specify a broad field of interest such as the environment, arts, education, or a specific community or geographic region to guide the committee. In addition, a discretionary fund may be used to provide annual support to help carry out our grantmaking role.

Donor Designated Funds

Donor designated funds allow the donor to provide permanent ongoing support to one or more of their favorite nonprofit organizations. When establishing a designated fund, donors specify one or more organizations to receive a regular distribution from the fund in perpetuity. Such funds can be established by an outright gift during the donor's lifetime or through a planned gift such as a bequest, charitable gift annuity, reminder trust, etc.

Agency Endowment Funds

Agency Endowment funds are established by area nonprofit organizations as a means of providing a perpetual income stream for their own operations and programs. Such funds are typically established with an agency placing all or part of its endowment (as distinct from its operating reserve) with the Foundation. Agency funds are invested as part of the Foundation’s investment pool, but are tracked as distinct funds. The Foundation annually distributes a portion the fund back to the agency according to a pre-determined spending formula. Agency funds give participating nonprofit organizations the opportunity to partner with the Foundation for endowment management, taking advantage of our investment pool’s economy of scale and professional, endowment-oriented investment management approach.

Ways to Give

Creating a fund during your lifetime gives you the chance to see your charitable dollars at work, set an example for your younger family members and enjoy the satisfaction of giving while simplifying the administrative paperwork. You can use your fund to support charities in your community or across the country. Your fund can be established in your name, anonymously, or in the name of a loved one whom you wish to honor or memorialize. Funds can either be endowed or temporary (pass-through funds held primarily in cash for grantmaking over a short-term period), to suit the particular needs of a donor or organization.

If you prefer, community foundation staff will work with you and your professional advisor to create estate planning strategies that preserve your charitable wishes long beyond your lifetime. You can name unlimited successor advisors to guide the fund when you are no longer able to do so. Through a variety of deferred gift options, you and your loved ones can enjoy financial security and provide resources for community needs to serve generations to come.

Since a community foundation is a 501(c) (3) public charity, each option offers significant tax advantages.

Type of Gift	How it Works
Outright Gifts During your Lifetime	Make a gift of cash, stock, bonds, real estate or other assets. Your gifts qualify as a charitable gift at the time you make them and are fully tax deductible as allowed by law.
Bequests	Leave a legacy by making a significant long-lasting gift through your will. Designate a gift or portion of your estate to your community foundation and give back to your community forever... for purposes that you name.
Charitable Remainder Trusts	Place assets in a trust that pays annual income to you (or another named beneficiary) for life. After your death, the remainder of the trust transfers to the community foundation, into the charitable fund you selected. You receive income tax benefits the year you establish your trust.
Charitable Lead Trusts	Create a trust that pays a fixed amount to the community foundation for the number of years you select. Once this period ends, the assets held by the trust are transferred to the beneficiaries you name.
Retirement Fund Assets	IRA assets, if passed on to heirs, are heavily taxed. Instead, gift the assets from your retirement fund to start or support a philanthropic fund and receive a charitable deduction.
Life Insurance	Policies can designate the community foundation as the owner and/or the beneficiary of the policy. The payout can be used to start or support a specific fund.