Establish a Fund

In addition to donating to one of our many existing funds, you can also choose to establish a new fund. Establishing a new fund lets you tailor it to fit your charitable vision, and the Community Foundation handles all the paperwork.

Creating a new fund is easy

Establishing a fund is easy! You just decide how much you’d like to give and how you’d like to customize your fund, and we’ll prepare the necessary (brief!) documents. After you sign those documents and donate to your new fund, that’s it! We handle everything else.

Customizing your fund

When you create your fund, you’ll be able to customize it by choosing the fund’s:

You can learn more about each of these options below.

Pick a name

When you create a fund with the Community Foundation of Southeast Kansas, you decide what to call it. You can name it to be a lasting memorial for yourself, a family member, friend, mentor, or business or organization. Or you could name it to explain its charitable purpose. It’s up to you!

Choose: Endowed or non-endowed?

You also decide whether your new fund will be endowed or non-endowed.

In an endowed fund, the fund only distributes its net income each year (defined as 5% of the average year-end balance over the preceding three years). That means that the principal can continue to grow over time, providing ongoing support to charitable organizations forever.

In a non-endowed fund, the fund can distribute both income and principal. In other words, the entire balance of a non-endowed fund is available from the start.

Select an investment mix and manager

All CFSEK funds are invested, but when you establish a fund, you tell us how to invest the money contributed to it. You can select from one of our predefined investment mixes or create a custom mix, letting you choose the balance of risk and opportunity for your fund.

By default, experienced investment professionals hired by the Community Foundation manage all CFSEK’s investments. But if you would prefer that another investment professional handle your fund’s portfolio, we can make that happen!

Determine a fund type

Finally, you can select which of the following types of funds you’d like to establish:

  • Donor-advised fund. In a donor-advised fund you play a continuing role in your fund’s activities. As often as you’d like, you recommend grants to be made from the fund to nonprofit organizations, religious institutions, or government agencies.
  • Designated fund. When you establish a designated fund, you specify which one charitable organization or purpose the fund should benefit.
  • Field-of-interest fund. Do you want your fund to benefit a particular charitable interest, but you’re not sure which organizations to choose? You can set up your fund as a field-of-interest fund, which will be used to benefit charities pursuing the field of interest you select, like education, health, or community improvement.
  • Scholarship fund. Scholarship funds help pay for eligible students’ education towards earning a degree. All scholarship money is paid directly to the educational institution where a student will attend.
  • Unrestricted fund. In an unrestricted fund, the CFSEK Board of Trustees chooses which organizations and causes to benefit. This lets us address the most urgent needs of Southeast Kansas communities and respond to changed circumstances.
  • Agency fund. If you represent a nonprofit organization, then your organization can establish a fund with us to invest its own money and accept gifts. Learn more about agency funds.

Administrative fees

All of our funds are assessed an annual administrative fee. These fees help to support the Community Foundation’s ongoing operations.

For most funds, the annual fee is the greater of 1% of the fund balance or $250. For most scholarship funds, the annual fee is the greater of 2% of the fund balance or $500. Fees are assessed on a monthly basis.

Contact us to learn more

Do you have questions about establishing a fund with CFSEK? Or are you ready to start the process? Contact us today!