For 80 years, The Columbus Foundation has been dedicated to the pursuit of helping others through the most effective philanthropy possible. The Columbus Foundation is a community foundation, which means we are a charitable grantmaking institution that serves a specific geographic area by providing services to donors, advancing the impact of nonprofits, and convening conversations around important issues. But our reach extends far beyond central Ohio!
Grants from Columbus Foundation funds can support 501(c)(3) organizations anywhere.
When your client establishes a fund at The Columbus Foundation, they are able to make grants to nonprofit 501(c)(3) charitable organizations supporting causes anywhere in the world! Many of our donors use their Donor Advised Fund (DAF) to support nonprofits in different states, including organizations where they grew up, attended school, or retired. We work with donors to establish Designated Funds to provide endowed support to organizations all over the country. Additionally, many of our Scholarship Funds have been designed by donors to support specific schools and students from geographic areas both inside and outside of Ohio.
We help people achieve their charitable goals, regardless of where they live.
Our donors hail from all over! Charitably inclined individuals, families, and businesses from across the United States have elected to work with us because of our reputation for flexibility and discretion, our ability to accept gifts of complex assets, and our expertise in advancing charitable goals through the creation of thoughtful lifetime and estate giving plans.
Charitable funds at The Columbus Foundation are flexible.
Making an irrevocable gift to establish a charitable fund can be a big step, but donors can rest assured that charitable funds at The Columbus Foundation are extremely flexible. For example:
- Unlike private foundations, DAFs have no required minimum annual grant distribution.
- While a gift to a DAF is irrevocable and must be used for charitable purposes, a donor can request to change aspects of how their fund is managed. The fund’s name, investment strategy, and advisors can all be revisited down the road. Fund advisors can change the “type” of charitable fund—for example, from a DAF to a Scholarship Fund. A donor can even advise us to grant part or all of their DAF balance to a different DAF sponsor, thereby essentially moving their fund to a new sponsor.
- Fund advisors can outline specific fund succession plans for their DAF. Whether donors wish to extend grant advisory rights to the next generation or to have their fund become an endowed resource benefitting their favorite causes in perpetuity, we can work with donors to design unique plans for their charitable dollars that truly reflect their goals—now and in the future.
- Funds established through estate gifts can include specific instructions regarding the purpose and administration. In this way, if a client should ever want to change their instructions to The Columbus Foundation, we can work with them to revise their plan, without troubling them to revise their underlying estate planning documents (will, trust, and/or beneficiary designation forms).
Our donors come from all walks of life.
The Columbus Foundation works with a variety of individuals, families, businesses, and nonprofits. There is no one “type” of person we work with. Our donors include retirees, small business owners, teachers, postal workers, students, authors, and many more. Donors can set up a fund at The Columbus Foundation through current gifts or planned gifts starting at $10,000.
The Columbus Foundation offers competitive fees—and a community connection.
The Columbus Foundation works on such a large scale of investments that we are able to pass on those savings to our donors. Additionally, by working with The Columbus Foundation, your clients have access to services, events, and community expertise that are not available through commercial gift funds.
The Columbus Foundation offers a range of investment options.
In addition to our low-cost Vanguard investment options, we work with more than 30 approved investment agents to manage donor fund assets. Each of these investment agents offers great service and low fees—and The Columbus Foundation’s finance team reviews agents annually to make sure they are meeting the standards of the indices. If a donor works with a financial advisor at one of our approved investment agents, they can even elect to request that their financial advisor manage the investment of any new or extant charitable fund they create after the donor has passed away.
Since 1943, The Columbus Foundation has worked with passionate individuals to help improve communities in central Ohio and beyond. Contact us if you are interested in learning more about how we can support you and your clients.
About The Columbus Foundation
The Columbus Foundation serves thousands of individuals, families, and businesses that have created unique funds and planned gifts to make a difference in the lives of others through the most effective philanthropy possible. The Columbus Foundation is Your Trusted Philanthropic Advisor and is one of the top 10 largest community foundations in the country.
