Sharing The Gift

Giving Through the Community Foundation

The Madison County Community Foundation has as its mission to serve the needs and philanthropic aims of donors who wish to better the Madison County community now and in the future. Most of the contributions made to the Foundation are endowed to support non-profit programs and services from income created by investing the principal of these endowed funds.

In this way, the Foundation assures donors that their contributions are a permanent legacy in the community. Pooled with the contributions of thousands of other donors, each gift plays a lasting role in the improvement of our county.

Regardless of the size or form of a gift to the Madison County Community Foundation, it is appreciated by the thousands of persons living here who benefit from grants and scholarships distributed by the Foundation.

The Benefits of Giving

Flexibility: Through the Madison County Community Foundation, an individual, family, company, foundation or charitable organization may create a fund tailored to their interests.

Simplicity: You may create your own charitable fund and conveniently manage all your charitable giving through the Foundation.

Tax Benefits: As a public charity, the Community Foundation offers the highest level of benefits for charitable giving.

Community Impact: The Foundation can help connect donors with projects that have a positive impact on the community.

Permanence: If the original purpose of the funds becomes impossible, incapable of fulfillment, or inconsistent with the charitable needs of the community, the Foundation's Board of Directors has the legal authority to redirect the funds to the most closely related use assuring donors that their original intent will be honored despite changing circumstances.

Cost Effectiveness: The Foundation manages 83 component funds investing the individual gifts and bequests as a family of funds thereby achieving significant economies of scale in both investment and administration.

Security: An independent audit is performed annually for the Community Foundation, and the volunteer thirteen-member Board of Directors of community leaders sets policy, monitors investments and approves all grants.

How to Give

Gifts can be made to the Madison County Community Foundation in honor of a special occasion such as a wedding, anniversary, birthday or memorial. You may also give to a particular fund or area of interest or to our unrestricted endowments that provide support to the ever-changing needs in a community.

A named permanent fund can be created with a gift of $5,000 and an endowed scholarship can be created with a gift of $10,000. Assets that can be gifted include cash, securities, closely held stock, mutual funds, real estate and insurance policies.
The Madison County Community Foundation also receives a portion of its principal from bequests by people who wish to continue their support of the county beyond their lifetimes. The Foundation can be an effective part of a donor's estate planning. Different options available are:

Charitable Gift Annuities - During your lifetime you receive income from your gift and after your death the remaining portion of your gift becomes a permanent fund within the Foundation supporting the charitable purposes you care about in the name you have chosen.

Life Insurance Policies - Some donors decide to make a gift by assigning a life insurance policy to the Community Foundation. You secure or transfer a policy and name the Community Foundation as owner and beneficiary. Your premiums are tax deductible and upon your death a permanent fund is established with the name you have chosen. This named fund then supports the charitable purposes you have identified.

Charitable Remainder Trust - By transferring property of some sort to a Charitable Remainder Trust, the trust provides you or another beneficiary a fixed or variable income for life or a fixed amount of time. When the trust expires, the remainder is used to establish a permanent fund again in the name you have chosen and for the charitable purpose you have identified. Click here for Charitable Gift Annuities.

Retirement Plan Assets - By naming the Madison County Community Foundation as the beneficiary of all or part of the balance of a pension or retirement fund, you remove that asset from your estate. Through the Community Foundation you may distribute your retirement plan after death in a way that is tax-wise for your family and that creates a fund in the Foundation that benefiting the community.