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The Center for Family Philanthropy is uniquely positioned to partner with private family foundations in a variety of ways, allowing us to meet each donor's specific philanthropic needs. From providing greater insight into the community to helping you meet annual payout requirements, we can assist your foundation the way that makes sense for you.

What We Offer

Connection to the community

As experts on the local nonprofit community, we can work with your foundation to identify grant recipients that align with your family's charitable vision and values. We can also connect you to these organizations and facilitate site visits to further aid your grantmaking decisions.

Continuation planning

Our staff can assist your family with succession and strategic planning, including how future generations should carry on your charitable legacy and who you would like to handle that important task.

Co-investment opportunities

Akron Community Foundation has a dedicated team that recommends funding to our board of directors during our quarterly grantmaking cycles. As you may imagine, the needs in our community far outweigh our available funding resources, so we partner with our donor-advised fundholders and interested private family foundations to share our grant requests and offer the opportunity to co-invest with us.

Companion funds

Private foundations are required to pay out 5% annually, but occasionally foundations may need more time to decide which nonprofits to support. Creating a donor-advised fund at Akron Community Foundation with some or all of the required 5% payout allows you to meet the federal requirement, while also giving you time to utilize the Center's services to make the best grantmaking decisions for your family and foundation.

Conversion

By dissolving your foundation and transferring your assets to a donor-advised fund at Akron Community Foundation, you can continue to give back to the causes you love while simplifying the work it takes to do so. Subsequent gifts to donor-advised funds are deductible to the fullest extent of the law, and there are no annual payout requirements, allowing you to give to the causes you care about on your family's schedule. In some cases, you can even keep your trusted financial advisors involved with the investment management.

Your Dedicated Philanthropic Team

If you establish a donor-advised fund at Akron Community Foundation, our experienced staff becomes your dedicated philanthropic team – consulting with you on grantmaking strategies, developing your fund's communication tools, efficiently processing and evaluating grant proposals, and serving as your professional community liaison. We can also help you engage your extended family or corporate team and assess the impact of grant recipients.

Through your fund, you'll have access to:

  • Annual or semi-annual multigenerational family meetings. Our trained facilitators will work with your family to create a customized giving plan that reflects your family's mission and values.
  • Grantmaking support. You can focus on the parts of charitable giving that bring you the most satisfaction while we handle the administrative work.
  • Connection to an instant network of philanthropic peers for learning, interaction and collaboration. We provide exclusive opportunities to connect with other donors, as well as philanthropic thought leaders from around the world. We know firsthand the changing needs of the community – and so will you.

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