Start Your Own Fund

For good. For ever.

Establishing a Fund at the Marshall Community Foundation

Get ready to change some lives!

When you choose to give through the Marshall Community Foundation, you feed families, protect our parks, provide healthcare services to low income families and improve classroom experiences for our youngest community members.

These are just a few examples of how people like you are making an impact in Marshall.

Though you can donate to our existing Family of Funds at the Foundation, you can also establish your own Fund.

Let us help you put your generosity into action!

Basic guidelines to get you started:
  1. Funds can be establish with a minimum gift and, over a five year period, grow to at least $5,000 or show activity that indicates the potential to meet this minimum.
  2. The Foundation will work with you to define the purpose and parameters of your Fund, which we then outline in a Fund Agreement. Once this agreement is signed, it becomes a contract between you and the Foundation. Meaning, income from the Fund will always be distributed in accord with the parameters you outlined. In short, the Agreement protects your investment forever.
  3. The endowed portion of your Fund continues to earn interest year-after-year. Annually, the Foundation distributes 4 to 5 percent of the endowment’s fund balance into what is called an “income fund.” This is the money that can be distributed to the charitable organization and purposes that align with the parameters established in your Fund Agreement.
  4. Distributions from the income fund can be made either annually or in various increments throughout the year, depending on the Fund type.
  5. If the charitable agency or purpose you wish to support ceases to exist, it is the role of the Foundation to find a similar purpose in which to apply income from your Fund. If possible, the Foundation will work with you or your Fund designee to ensure subsequent agencies or programs correspond to your original intent. If a designee is not available, the Foundation will do this on your behalf.
  6. The Foundation can provide you with accountings of all receipts, disbursements and gifts to your Fund either annually or as requested.
  7. The Foundation currently charges a modest 1 percent fee to manage endowed Funds, which includes distributing all donor receipts, facilitating disbursements and generating corresponding records.
  8. The Foundation supplements your professional advisors’ services, offering personalized attention, local expertise and community-wide reach. We encourage you to seek the assistance of personal, legal or financial advisors in matters related to complicated gifts and your resulting tax and estate planning outcomes.

Through our pool of Funds, the Foundation awards more than $600,000 annually to local non-profits and scholarship recipients. None of this would be possible without the generosity of people just like you: individuals who are deeply rooted in our community and want to see Marshall and our surrounding communities continue to thrive.

This information is meant to provide an overview of how a Fund is established, and how distributions can be managed through the Community Foundation. Please contact the Foundation office for more information on initiating your own Fund.

We look forward to working with you!

The Foundation is a trusted vehicle you can use to address programs and opportunities that matter most to you.

“Take some time to reflect on the gifts you have received and consider what you can do to help others, too. Pick up the phone and call the Foundation; they can walk you through the various options that are available to you. We were amazed at how quick and easy it was. We had been considering how we could be more intentional with our gifting, and will use the establishment of our Fund as an opportunity to teach our children to be generous. We will make this a family effort over the years, and I hope the six of us are better people for it.”

~ Jason and Angie Rapelje