Our mission at Coastal Community Foundation is to foster philanthropy for the lasting good of the community. We work towards that mission by establishing charitable funds with donors across coastal South Carolina.
With 674 different funds established by many different donors, our funds vary widely in terms of structure, size and focus area. However, at the end of the day, they all have a lasting impact on our community.
And this is how it works:
Endowed Funds
90 percent of our funds are endowed or partially endowed. By only granting out a certain percentage of the fund each year, endowed funds grow slowly over time, preserving the value of the original gift and helping donors make a long-term impact.
In partially endowed funds, only a certain portion of the fund balance is fully endowed. JEF Endowments are funds set up with the Jewish Endowment Fund, a supporting organization of CCF.
Endowments provide a lasting impact on our community by providing permanent resources for charitable organizations. However, endowing a fund is just one piece of the puzzle – once endowed, there are many ways donors can set up funds, depending on their charitable goals and focus areas.
Types of Funds
From field-of-interest to unrestricted, our 674 funds make an impact on the community. In 2014 alone our funds awarded more than $20 million.
Donor (or Corporate) Advised Funds are a flexible tool for charitable giving, with many options for contributing to the fund and awarding money to nonprofits of your choosing. This is also our most popular fund type, with more than one-third of donors choosing this option.
Field-of-Interest Funds support programs, projects and initiatives in a specific area of interest. Many of our competitive grant programs, like the Charles Webb-Ed Croft Endowment or Open Grants, are field-of-interest funds.
Designated Funds benefit one or more charitable organizations as designated by the donor(s) who opened the fund. Representing more than one-quarter of our funds, these funds give donors the opportunity to provide dedicated support to a specific cause that lasts forever.
Organization Endowments are created by charitable organizations to provide a permanent source of support for their work. These endowments are one way of fostering financial sustainability in the long-run.
Scholarship Funds typically provide grants to college or university students that meet different criteria as determined by donors and our annual scholarship committee. Many of these funds feed into our general scholarship program, which awarded more than $290,000 to students from Berkeley, Charleston and Dorchester Counties in 2015.
Unrestricted Funds are best suited to meet emerging needs or opportunities in the community as funding decisions are left to our board. Because of the contemporaneous leadership of these funds, they are often timeless in terms of community impact.
Other Funds include project funds, fiscal sponsorship funds and our management endowment, created to support the longevity of Coastal Community Foundation itself.
To learn more about different types of funds at Coastal Community Foundation, contact our Director of Development Steffanie Dohn at Steffanie@coastalcommunityfoundation.org.
