Individual Giving Fund Types

The Columbus Foundation staff is here to help you design a flexible, innovative, charitable legacy by creating the unique fund or foundation that will help you achieve your goals.

Individual Fund Types

• Donor Advised Fund is flexible and convenient, and the number one choice for many donors. This fund centers around the causes and organizations—in central Ohio and beyond—that you care about. You realize tax savings now, and on your own schedule recommend grants to the organizations you choose. The Columbus Foundation handles the administrative details.
• Scholarship Fund supports any level of education and can be awarded to students based on criteria you establish. Donors are involved by defining candidate eligibility, selection, and award use.
• Designated Fund focuses on specific nonprofit organizations or institutions you select as grant recipients when you establish your fund. These charities will benefit from your generosity during your lifetime and beyond.
• Field of Interest Fund is devoted to a specific cause that has meaning to you. This may include support for a broad area, such as the elderly, healthcare, the arts, or a specific geographic area.
• Unrestricted Fund addresses the evolving needs of greater central Ohio. Created by visionary philanthropists who want to support the community beyond their own lifetimes, these funds allow the Foundation to address community needs as they emerge. Grants from unrestricted funds are awarded on a competitive basis through applications from local nonprofits that are researched and evaluated by The Columbus Foundation’s grants management team.
• Supporting Foundation creates an opportunity for an individual who has very specific goals for investing that may be different than the many options offered by a fund, would like to have a more formal structure involving a formal board of directors, or like the opportunity for a strong identity a separate organization can provide.
  

To learn more, contact a member of our Donor Services team by e-mail. Or, if you are interested in becoming a donor, please complete this brief Become a Donor form and a Donor Services officer will respond within the next business day.