Designing Your Giving Plan

The Jewish Community Foundation accepts gifts of all amounts. The minimum required to start a fund varies with the type of fund. Funds can be built up over time. Donors can choose from an array of lifetime charitable giving options that are available through the Jewish Community Foundation.

Several fund types enable you to start giving immediately:

• Unrestricted Community Funds guarantee our community’s financial security. They help ensure that we have the flexibility and resources to respond to changing community needs. To find out if an unrestricted community fund is the way you want to see your charitable dollars at work, click here.
• Donor Advised Funds allow donors to keep an active hand in grant making and involve family members in philanthropy. Grants may be recommended to a broad range of charitable organizations in the Jewish and general communities. We maintain a growing list of approved charities and share grant funding ideas with advisors. To find out if an advised fund is right for you, click here.
  
• Mekorot Funds grow into donor advised funds over a period of up to five years as donors make periodic tax-deductible contributions to build the fund. A minimum of $5,000 can start the fund, and distributions begin once the fund goal of $10,000 is reached. Mekorot Fund donors become members of the Jewish Community Foundation family and are involved in establishing a tradition of philanthropy that continues over time.
  
• Designated Funds direct annual support to a specifically named charitable organization that the donor selects. If you want to learn more about supporting your favorite charity through a permanent endowment fund, click here.
  
• Area of Interest Funds enable donors who feel strongly about a particular cause to support it in perpetuity. Distributions may be directed toward family education, camping, special needs programming, arts and cultural activities or other areas. For more information, click here.
  
• Scholarship Funds, a subset of designated funds, are created by donors specifically interested in promoting access to education. If you want to learn more about our scholarship program, click here.
  
• Memorial Funds enable individuals who have lost a loved one to preserve and honor their memory. The Foundation will help manage incoming contributions to the memorial fund as well as make distributions that honor the charitable interests of the person in whose memory the fund was established.

The Jewish Community Foundation gift planning team is happy to assist you with creating a giving plan that suits your charitable and financial goals. Please contact the Foundation for more information at 860.523.7460 or giftplanning@jcfhartford.org.