How to Start a Fund

Step 1: Select Your Investment Approach

Determine the type of endowment investment approach that will satisfy your interests. Your gift will be invested with the foundation’s pooled endowments. The original value of the fund will be permanently maintained.

  • Bequest:
    Leave a lasting legacy: establish a fund through your will or testamentary trust.
  • Charitable remainder trust, pooled income funds and gifts annuities:
    The donor and/or other named beneficiaries retain a life income and earn immediate and long-term tax benefits.
  • Beneficial Designations of Retirement Plan Assets:
    Revocable, flexible way to give using an expensive asset for a family member to inherit.
  • Life Insurance:
    Have a Life Insurance Policy which is no longer needed? Name the Rush County Community Foundation as owner and/or beneficiary of an insurance policy. The proceeds will be used to establish a future charitable fund.
  • Gifts that go to work immediately:
    Cash, Securities, Real Estate (subject to our guidelines), and grain.

Step 2: Establish Your Fund

The Foundation will prepare a draft endowment agreement that will detail the purpose for which you have established the fund. The agreement will be reviewed and ultimately signed by you and the Foundation’s Executive Director after review by our Board of Directors.

Step 3: Choose a Name for Your Fund

A fund’s name stays with it forever. Whenever a grant is made from a fund, it is recognized by name. Thus, donors should give careful thought to their fund’s name.

Examples include:

  • The name of the person(s) establishing the fund:
    John and Jane Doe Unrestricted Fund
  • A family name:
    Doe Family Fund
  • A favorite cause:
    John and Jane Doe Fund for Rush County Agriculture Association
  • A memorial:
    Jane Doe Memorial Scholarship Fund
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