Become a Donor


Types of Funds:		Ways to Give Become a Donor You can make a contribution of any size simply by writing a check to The Greater Kanawha Valley Foundation. If your gift is for the general charitable needs of the community, it will be placed in one of the general Funds established at each of the trustee banks to receive memorial gifts, honorary gifts, and undesignated gifts, both large and small. If you have special charitable purposes in mind, you can direct your gift to any of our Funds that meet that purpose. If you would like to assist in the work of the Foundation and help defray administrative expenses, you can direct your gift to the Thomas N. Chambers Administrative Fund or the Charles W. Loeb Valley Promotion Fund, both of which were created to address those needs. With a gift of $10,000 or more, you can create a named Fund with specific charitable purposes. On occasion, Funds may be established for smaller amounts if there is a plan in place to bring the balance up to the required minimum. When this Fund is created, you have the right to name the Fund, determine the assets to be given, and select the type of Fund that best suits their purpose. The eight types of Funds administered by the Foundation are:
Unrestricted or Discretionary
	Field of Interest
Designated
	Donor Advised
Scholarships
	Agency Endowments
"Pass Through" Funds
	Administrative

These Funds are typically created by visionary philanthropists with broad charitable interest. They offer current, and future, trustees of The Greater Kanawha Valley Foundation maximum flexibility to respond to changing needs of the community, emergencies and to support the creation of innovative responses to community problems.

Donors who create one of our eight other types during their lifetimes can, if they choose, specify the named Fund become unrestricted after their deaths.

This Fund allows you to support a particular broad charitable cause, such as the arts, education, health, human services, land use and/or recreation. The Greater Kanawha Valley Foundation then seeks out worthy projects within this defined field of interest. Some donors who create field of interest Funds during their lifetimes enjoy participating in the process of identifying worthy projects.

These Funds are normally created to perpetually benefit one, or more, specific charities. Grants will be made in the name of the Fund so long as the organization(s) remain in operation and is consistent with its original charitable purpose.

If, over time, an agency benefiting from a donor designated Fund goes out of business, becomes for-profit, or substantially alters its mission so that it no longer fits with the donor’s original intent, the Foundation’s Board of Trustees will seek out alternate beneficiaries to ensure the donor’s original charitable goals continue to be met.

These Funds are often an attractive alternative to the creation of a private foundation. Donors receive a 100% tax deduction for the original, and any subsequent, gifts. In subsequent years, they may suggest deserving charities to benefit from Fund income or, if desired, principal. Grants are then made, in the name of the Fund, to favored charities.

While legal control of the Fund rests with The Greater Kanawha Valley Foundation, donors can be assured their advice is taken seriously. Investments, paperwork, and grant monitoring are all handled by The Foundation, with recognition flowing to the donor.

The Greater Kanawha Valley Foundation currently administers over 75 different scholarships. These Funds allow a donor to define the scholarship’s advisory committee, guidelines for candidate selection and award use. Scholarships can benefit a particular educational institution or field of study. Many donors find the creation of a scholarship Fund within a community foundation the simplest and most cost effective alternative to a private foundation.

This type of Fund is established when a non-profit organization agrees to transfer all, or part, of its endowment to a designated Fund within The Greater Kanawha Valley Foundation. Agency endowments can also be established by individual donors.

The Foundation views the management of agency endowments as a service. This type of Fund is not appropriate for operating reserves. It is for true endowments.

This partnership can bring investment economies of scale, expertise and reduced Fund management costs to other non-profit organizations. We can work together to attract additional gifts to their endowment Fund. We can protect an organization’s hard-earned endowment and insure it is always available to support its charitable mission.

As a community service, named Funds can be established that allow you to make a gift to The Foundation, which then “passes through” to your favored charity. This may be appropriate when:

The goal here is to provide a service. If you think the Foundation can help with a unique situation, we encourage you to call.