Creating Your Own Legacy

How to Establish a New Endowment Fund

If you want to make a difference, the Nicholas County Community Foundation makes charitable giving as easy and effective as possible. We offer a simple, powerful and highly personal approach to giving.

Turning Good Intentions Into Good Investments

Setting up an endowed fund with the NCCF is easy and can be completed in three simple steps.

Step One:   Choose the type of fund you wish to establish.  Named funds can fall into several categories.

• Unrestricted funds allow donors to help the NCCF meet ever-changing community needs.
• Donor advised funds offer a personalized approach to giving offering flexibility to donors.
• Designated funds help specific local organizations sustain and grow.
• Field of Interest funds connect personal values to local grantmaking opportunities.
• Operating endowment funds support the work of the Foundation.
• Scholarships invest in deserving students.
• Agency/Organization funds provide long-term sustainability for organizations.
• Non Endowed funds provide investment options for non profit prganizations.

Step Two:  Provide the Foundation with background information regarding your fund. The NCCF, after speaking with you or your representatives, will develop the legal documents and paperwork necessary to create a charitable fund according to your expectations.

Step Three: “Initiate” the fund by writing a check to the Nicholas County Community Foundation or designating the Foundation as the beneficiary of an asset. A fund is initiated when the required minimum deposit is made.

A fund is established once the remaining fund balance is paid. Donors have a period of 5 years to complete the funding requirements. The minimum level required to establish a fund varies based on the type of fund you choose.  These levels were developed to ensure that a significant annual grant will result and to reflect the level of staff activity associated with the fund.After the initial deposit is made a Fund Agreement will be finalized and signed. A “Building Over Time Agreement” will also need to be signed. This gives the donor five years to fully “establish” their fund.

Flexible Giving Options

Just as there are lots of ways you can structure your permanent endowment fund to help the charities and causes you most care about, you can also choose when to make your gift.

Give Now

Direct transfers or cash, appreciated stock or qualified retirement assets, a direct transfer will deliver maximum tax advantage.

• Cash and personal checks are the simplest way to give. Cash gifts enable donors to claim a current income tax deduction of up to 50 percent of their adjusted gross income (AGI) in the year of the gift, with a five year carry-forward period. Donations may be mailed to: NCCF , P.O. Box 561, Summersville, West Virginia 26651,  or you can choose to make a secure donation online.
• Publicly Traded Securities & Mutual Funds enable donors to receive a double income tax benefit when they give publicly traded securities or mutual funds (i.e. securities for which there is a recognized market such as the NYSE ). Such gifts are deductible at their full market value, and the donor avoids capital gains on the stock’s appreciation. Donors can claim a current income tax deduction of up to 30 percent of their adjusted gross income (AGI), with a five-year carry forward, if required

Give Later

Through planned giving you can achieve both your charitable and financial goals.

• Bequest by will: Set aside a gift or portion of your estate for the Community Foundation and, in some cases, receive a substantial reduction in federal gift and estate taxes. Follow this link to view or print the language to include in your will.
• Retirement plan assets (such as IRA’s) make excellent charitable gifts. Many professional advisors call retirement assets “tax-cursed” in that although these plans enjoy favorable tax treatment prior to retirement, they may be subject to income tax, estate tax, and excess accumulation tax at the death of the plan participant. Thus, in many cases it may be advantageous to leave other assets to heirs and to name a Fund in the Community Foundation as the beneficiary of the retirement plan. In a bequest, the family can avoid both estate tax and income tax if the plan participant makes the plan a gift to charity.
• Life insurance beneficiary: Make the Community Foundation a full or partial beneficiary of your life insurance policy—another simple way to give without changing your estate plan. Gifts of life insurance enable the donors to make a future gift to the Community Foundation at a relatively modest cost. Donors may name the Community Foundation as a full or partial  beneficiary of existing policies.
• Charitable trust: Provide for family and charity with a charitable trust at the Community Foundation.
• Charitable gift annuity: Make a gift of cash or property to the Community Foundation now, get immediate tax benefits and ensure that you or a loved one receive fixed quarterly or annual income payments for life.
• Real estate gifts include a home, farm or ranch, commercial buildings, or income-producing land. Gifts of real estate may be contributed as outright gifts, as a retained life estate, as a contribution to a charitable remainder trust, or may be gifted to the Community Foundation via bequest. All gifts of real estate will require certain procedural steps, including site visit, environmental assessment, and a qualified appraisal. The Community Foundation will accept real estate on a case by case basis.
• Proposed gifts of closely held stock are reviewed on a case-by-case basis with the Community Foundation. If accepted, donors are entitled to a deduction for the appraised fair market value of the gift. The deduction can be up to 30 percent of the donor’s adjusted gross income (AGI). Capital gains are also avoided.

Often a conversation with family members, financial advisors, or the NCCF Staff is the first step to making your charitable dreams a reality.   We would be honored to join you in these conversations if you choose. Contact us at (304) 872-0202 or by email at [email protected].