The Alger Regional Community Foundation is a vehicle through which individuals, businesses, foundations and organizations are able to make gifts and bequests to benefit the Alger County area. Income from these gifts, made through the Community Foundation, is used to address a broad spectrum of needs in the community and to set up or add to funds from which grants are made. The Community Foundation is both flexible and permanent in nature, thus assuring donors that the spirit of their gifts will endure.

Ten Reasons to Give Through the Community Foundation

•  We are a local organization with deep roots in the community.

•  Our professional program staff has broad expertise regarding community issues and needs.

•  We provide highly personalized service tailored to each individual's charitable and financial interests.

•  Our funds help people invest in the causes they care about most.

•  We accept a wide variety of assets, and can facilitate event he most complex forms of giving.

•  We partner with professional advisors to create highly effective approaches to charitable giving.

•  We offer maximum tax advantage under state and federal law.

•  We multiply the impact of gift dollars by pooling them with other gifts and grants.

•  We build endowment funds that benefit the community forever and help create personal legacies.

•  We are a community leader, convening agencies and coordinating resources to create positive change.

Our List of Current Funds demonstrates the variety of existing funds. With gifts of $5,000 or more, a donor has the opportunity to create a named fund. Five different types of donations are possible:

Field of Interest Funds support a broad area of the donor's concern, such as education, the arts, youth services, the elderly, or the disabled. The Foundation uses income from these funds to support programs or organizations within the field of interest specified by the donor.

Donor Advised Funds provide convenience and flexibility by enabling donors to support their favorite charities in both lean and profitable years through the Community Foundation. Through the creation of this "charitable check-book," a donor receives a tax deduction in the year in which the gift is made, and is able to suggest distributions to specific charities over a longer period of time. Donors often choose this kind of fund (as well as Designated Funds) to remember their alma maters, churches and other favorite charities.

Designated Funds Assure that support will be provided to specific eligible organizations named by the donor. If any of these organizations should cease to operate, the Foundation will continue the donor's charitable objectives. Grants from this type of fund are often made for operating support.

Unrestricted Funds enable the Foundation to respond to changing community needs and emergencies, to support the creation of innovative responses to community problems, and to enhance the quality of community life. The donor places no restrictions on how income from these funds is to be used, leaving those decisions to the Community Foundation.

Administrative Funds enable the donor to provide support for the ongoing operations of the Community Foundation.

A Gift Continues to Give Forever. The fund that receives a donor's contribution will continue to benefit the community now and in future years.

Contributions Ease the Donor's Tax Burden.
Contributions to the Community Foundation qualify for maximum deductibility for income, gift and estate tax purposes.

All Contributions are Professionally Managed.
The Foundation's Board of Directors guarantees sound and flexible administration that small individual trusts or foundations may not be able to obtain. Because funds in the Community Foundation are pooled for investment purposes, donors have the advantage of a diverse investment mix and reduced risk. Members of the Foundation's Finance Committee are selected for their integrity, competence and knowledge.

The Community Foundation is Publicly Accountable.
Annual reporting through an independent audit and filing of tax returns, public disclosure of all grant activities, and careful selection of the Board of Trustees assures continued use of the funds in the public interest.

Grants Will Be Made in the Donor's Name.
A donor may choose any name for the fund established through his or her gift. That name might be the donor's own name, or that of a family, a friend, or an organization. Such funds are open-ended and may be increased at any time by additional gifts. Grants to charitable organizations from a named fund will always be recorded in the name of the fund, a lasting symbol of the donor's concern for the community.

A Gift May be Designated for a Specific Purpose.
If a donor establishes his or her own named fund, its purpose or purposes may be specified at the time the gift is made. A donor may also specify whether income only or both income and principal are to be spent. Many donors, however, place no restrictions on how the income of a fund is to be used, and leave the decisions to the Foundation's Board of Trustees.

A Gift Can Keep Pace with Changing Times.
If the intended purpose of a fund becomes obsolete, the Foundation's authority to amend provisions of the fund will insure that it will continue to meet changing community needs.

Gifts may be Claimed for the Michigan Community Foundation Tax Credit.
Michigan law permits individuals and businesses to reduce their Michigan income tax or Michigan single business tax by a credit of up to 50 percent of the amount contributed to the permanent endowment of the Community Foundation. Tax credits are subject to the following limitations:

• Individuals contributing to the Community Foundation may receive a State income tax credit of up to 50 percent of the amount of the gift up to $400 for a married couple (a $200 tax credit) and up to $200 for a single person (a $100 tax credit).
• Corporations contributing to a community foundation may receive a State income tax credit for up to 5 percent of the corporation's tax liability or on a gift up to $10,000 (tax credit of $5,000) whichever is less.
• The tax credit is in addition to and is not reduced by those available to contributors to public broadcasting station, Michigan colleges or universities, public libraries, shelters and soup kitchens. The credit is also in addition to the deduction for federal income tax purposes.

How Can a Fund be Created?

Giving Now. The charities a donor supports can continue to be supported through the establishment of a fund in the Community Foundation during his or her lifetime and in perpetuity. Donors may contribute assets to their funds regularly and, if a donor advised fund is the vehicle created, recommend grants from them every year.

Future Giving. There are many attractive arrangements for giving future or deferred gifts. Deferred gifts, such as Charitable Gift Annuities and Charitable Remainder Trusts, give the donor 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 the death of the donor. The result may be an increase in current spendable income for the donor and his or her family and, later, a substantial fund to help others through the Community Foundation. The remainder interest in real estate, charitable Remainder Trusts, Charitable Lead Trusts, Pooled Income Funds and gifts of life insurance can all be used to create funds in the Community Foundation.

Bequests Through Wills and Trusts. After providing for loved ones, and perhaps a few direct bequests to others, a donor should consider creating a fund in the Community Foundation or adding to an endowment fund established previously. Estate taxes are saved, and the good works a person cared about during his or her lifetime continue to benefit through a living memorial established in the Community Foundation.

What Assets Can be Contributed?
The Community Foundation can establish charitable funds with cash, securities, bequests, trusts, retirement plan assets, pledges, real estate, tangible personal property, life insurance policy, charitable gift annuities.

The Foundation staff will be glad to discuss proposed assets. Those which cannot readily be converted to the financial benefit of the charity or that carry unusual potential liability may not be accepted. 

How are Funds Invested?

A fund established in the Community Foundation is usually invested in one of the banks currently serving as investment agent for the Foundation: Wells Fargo (Formerly MFC) in Marquette, Michigan.  
The Foundation is not limited to those institutions for investment management, and a donor wishing to use another investment agent should contact the Foundation to discuss this issue. All investment managers must be approved by the Board of Directors.

 

 

 

 

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