Our Funds

When you establish a community fund, your gift will meet ever-changing needs – including future needs that often cannot be anticipated at the time your gift is made. The flexibility of your gift enables your Community Foundation’s knowledgeable staff and dedicated community members to respond to the community’s most pressing needs and valuable opportunities, today and tomorrow.

• You make a gift to your Community Foundation during your lifetime or through a bequest in your will. You can give cash, appreciated stocks, real estate, or other assets. You receive tax benefits in the year your gift is made.
• We set up a special fund in your name, the name of your family or business, or in honor of any person you choose.
• Your gift is placed into an endowment that is invested over time. Earnings from your fund are used to make grants to support programs and projects in the areas of arts and culture, community and economic development, environment, health and human services, recreation, and youth. The Community Foundation’s professional staff and committed community representatives determine how to put those dollars to work in order to meet needs and leverage opportunities.
• We handle all the details.
• Your gift – and all future earnings from your gift – is a permanent source of community capital, helping to do good work forever.

A Lasting Legacy

Jack and Elayne Zaiger made their home here, ran a successful business and raised a family. In 1995, Elayne created the Jack Zaiger Family Fund at the Community Foundation. Elayne explained: “I can accomplish so much more through the Community Foundation than I might on my own.” Because it is unrestricted, the Fund’s assets join together with those of other community funds and the income generated is used to make a variety of grants throughout Emmet County. They are both gone now, but their gift will continue to benefit this place they called home - forever.

When you establish a field of interest fund, you can target your gift to address needs in an important area of community life: the arts, neighbors in need, recreation, public spaces. Your community foundation will award grants to area organizations that are making a difference in the area you select. Your gift stays flexible enough to meet community needs in your interest area, even as they change over time.

• You make a gift to the Community Foundation during your lifetime or through a bequest in your will*. You can give cash, appreciated stocks, real estate, or other assets. You receive tax benefits in the year your gift is made.
• We set up a special fund in your name, a name describing the area of interest, the name of your family or business, or in honor of any person you choose.
• Your gift is placed into an endowment that is invested over time. Earnings from your fund are used to make grants to support programs and projects in your selected area of interest. These dollars will leverage Fund for the Community dollars, meeting more needs and opportunities overall.
• We handle all the details.
• Your gift – and all future earnings from your gift – is a permanent source of community capital, helping to do good work forever.

* Minimum amount to establish a fund is currently $10,000.

Protecting the Bay

The goal of the Little Traverse Bay Protection and Restoration Fund is to help ensure that the waters of the Little Traverse Bay watershed will be enhanced, restored, and protected for generations to come. In 2010, this fund was established by CMS Land Company with a challenge grant of $500,000. Our community met the challenge to match those funds, and since then the Community Foundation has directed over $400,000 in grants toward important work related to the Little Traverse Bay watershed. This fund will meet needs over time, even as they change, to protect the bay we love.

Establishing an agency endowment fund is a simple and efficient way to build income for your nonprofit organization. Your donors can be sure they are providing a source of lasting support. Your fund becomes part of the Community Foundation’s pool of endowed assets. Thus, the Community Foundation’s economies of scale provide your organization the benefits of a diverse investment portfolio that typically come only with large funds. We can help you develop planned giving programs to assist your donors with bequest giving, gifts of stock or other assets which will benefit your fund and add to the long-term growth of your organization.

• Your board determines how much you would like to invest long-term.*
• You work with us to complete the simple, one-page fund agreement (sample on back).
• We set up the fund in the name of your nonprofit organization.
• Your organization receives quarterly statements on fund activity.
• Your organization and your donors may add to the fund anytime.
• Every spring you receive a letter letting you know what spending allocation you have available.**
• We handle all the administrative details—including investment management, donor acknowledgements, and quarterly reports which gives you more time to concentrate on your mission.

*Minimum to establish an agency endowment fund is $10,000. May be established with $5,000 and given three years to reach $10,000. No allocations will be made from the fund until fund reaches $10,000 in gifts.

**Based on the Community Foundation’s spending policy as in effect from time to time and market conditions permitting.

AGREEMENT TO ESTABLISH THE [NAME OF THE FUND]

I / We will soon/hereby deliver a check for $[AMOUNT] [or the property described in Exhibit A] payable to the Petoskey-Harbor Springs Area Community Foundation (“the Foundation”), a Michigan not-for-profit corporation. This is a gift for the purposes enumerated and set forth in the Articles of Incorporation establishing the Foundation and is to be administered by you subject to all of the terms and conditions contained in your Articles of Incorporation and By-Laws establishing and governing the Foundation and any amendments or additions thereto, including presumption of donor intent and variance from Donor’s directions.

Through this gift it is the intention of the governing board of the [NAME OF THE ORGANIZATION], (“the Organization”) to create the [NAME OF THE FUND] (“the Fund”) of the Foundation. The Fund is open-ended and assets can be added at any time upon acceptance by the Foundation, and it is hoped that other individuals, organizations and businesses will also add to the Fund, thereby showing support for the Organization.

The governing board of the Organization reserves the right to recommend to the Trustees of the Foundation as to the distribution of net income from the Fund according to the spending policy of the Foundation as in effect from time to time. The Organization may also request that all or a portion of the net income be reinvested in the Fund. The recommendation to the Trustees of the Foundation as to distributions from the Fund shall be in writing. In the event of the dissolution of the Organization, the Foundation shall make distributions of net income from the Fund for such purposes or to such organizations as, in the opinion of the Board of Trustees of the Foundation, most nearly meet the purpose of the Organization.

All gifts to the Foundation for the purpose of the Fund shall be irrevocable once accepted by the Foundation. The Board of Trustees of the Foundation shall have the power, cy pres, to modify any condition or restriction on the distribution of assets for any specified organization if, in its sole judgment, those restrictions become, in effect, unnecessary, incapable of fulfillment, or inconsistent with the charitable needs of the area served by the Foundation.

The Foundation may commingle the assets of the Fund with the assets of other Foundation funds, provided however, that the separate identity of each fund will be maintained. The Fund will be the property of the Foundation and will not be deemed a separate trust fund held by it in a trustee capacity.

The Fund shall share a fair portion of the total investment and administrative costs of the Foundation. Those costs will at all times be reasonable, will be in accordance with the current fee schedule applicable to funds of this type, and will not exceed usual and customary rates. Any cost to the Foundation in accepting, transferring, or managing property donated to the Foundation for the Fund shall be paid from the Fund.

MY SIGNATURE INDICATES ACCEPTANCE of the terms and conditions of the agreement.

[ORGANIZATION] Date

WE HEREBY ACKNOWLEDGE RECEIPT OF THE ABOVE GIFT, and agree to administer the same under the provisions of the Articles of Incorporation and By-Laws establishing and governing the Foundation, as amended.

PETOSKEY-HARBOR SPRINGS AREA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION Executive Director Date 

When you establish a donor advised fund, you make a gift to your Community Foundation then remain actively involved in suggesting uses for your charitable fund with support and local expertise from staff.

• You make a gift to the Community Foundation - you can give cash, appreciated stocks, real estate, or other assets.* You receive tax benefits in the year your gift is made and every time you add to your fund.
• We set up a special fund in your name, the name of your family or business, or in honor of any person you choose.**
• Your gift can be placed into an endowment that is invested over time. While this is not a requirement for a donor advised fund, it does support the Community Foundation’s mission of building a permanent source of charitable funds to serve our area.
• Dollars from your fund are used to recommend grants to support the causes and organizations you care about most.*** Community Foundation staff can provide information and opportunities to further your grantmaking. We handle all the details and issue grants to organizations in the name of your fund.
• Your gift can support charitable causes easily and efficiently. Community Foundation staff can help connect you with local organizations doing work that is important to you – right here in Emmet County.

*Minimum amount to establish a fund is currently $5,000, and we encourage you to keep this as your minimum balance.

**See Donor Advised Funds guidelines for full details.

***Minimum grant amount is $100 and we prefer that grants stay within Emmet County.

Better Together

David and Barbara Buzzelli established their donor advised fund to do their charitable giving in and around Harbor Springs: “Becoming involved in the Community Foundation has given us a wellrounded perspective of the region. It’s an excellent way to assist others and help this community to grow and be all it can be.” Using their fund, the Buzzellis support needs and opportunities easily and efficiently – making a difference in areas that are important to them.

Download the form here.