Administrative Funds

As with any worthwhile organization, Kansas Rural Communities Foundation has operating costs associated with its day-to-day operations. To offset these costs, the Administrative Fund was established. The Pottawatomie County Economic Development Corporation, local businesses, and individual founders have supported the Kansas Rural Communities Foundation through contributions to the Administrative Fund. Continued support through this fund is needed and appreciated.

Affiliated Funds

Affiliation Agreements and Funds: Another Community Foundation may affiliate with the Kansas Rural Communities Foundation for mutual benefit, including negotiating greater rates of return on pooled investments, assistance with marketing and donor development, assistance with accounting and reporting, and other services that may be required. Affiliation may include the establishment of an unrestricted fund for general grantmaking purposes by the Affiliate or the establishment of other, named funds that may be unrestricted, field-of-interest, organization, designated, or donor-advised, by the Affiliate. Each affiliation agreement will specify the mutual goals and purposes of the Foundation and the Affiliate.

Designated Funds

These funds are ideal if you want to support one or more specific organizations of your choice. Designated funds often are endowed in perpetuity with the income used to support the specified organizations on an on-going basis. Kansas Rural Communities Foundation ensures that disbursements are made to the appropriate charitable agencies as specified in the establishing fund document. If an agency stops functioning as an exempt charity or ceases to exist, the Foundation’s Board of Directors may select an alternative charity as indicated in the fund document. Nonprofit groups can also establish this kind of fund as part of their organization’s own fundraising strategy.

Donor-Advised Funds

A donor-advised fund is a flexible tool for charitable giving. You can contribute to your fund when it is most convenient and then recommend gifts over time to nonprofit organizations of your choice. You select a fund name and then get to enjoy making grants to the organizations committed to the causes you care about. You can also involve your children and grandchildren to share in a family tradition of giving.

Field of Interest Funds

This type of fund allows you to support an area of charitable interest, defined broadly (such as education) or narrowly (such as math tutoring). You also can select a defined geographic area of specific community to benefit from your named fund. In determining suitable grant recipients that meet the fund’s criteria, you can stay involved, appoint an advisory committee, or leave the work to the Foundation’s Grants and Distributions Committee.

Organizational Endowment Funds

These are endowment funds created by other nonprofit charitable organizations to which the Foundation provides financial, investment management, and other services. The organization that creates the fund has its own Board of Directors, which makes decisions as to disbursements from the fund.

Scholarship Funds

The creation of a scholarship fund is attractive if you are interested in helping students obtain further education at any level. You may specify the criteria to be used in selecting recipients. For example, you may wish to support students who were involved in a certain high school activity; are studying a particular subject in college; or are attending a specific university or trade school. You may wish to name your scholarship fund in honor of a loved one.

Special Purpose Funds

Special Purpose Funds support a particular project or community initiative. This type of fund is shorter in duration than the other types of funds. The fund comes to an end once the special purpose is fulfilled. These are not endowment funds – all principal and earnings are distributed.

Unrestricted Funds

Unrestricted Funds are not specifically designated for use by a particular agency, cause, or area of interest. The Foundation’s Board of Directors would oversee the use of your named unrestricted fund and set priorities for its use. Unrestricted funds give the Foundation the greatest latitude over the years in how to direct grants, based on the Board’s assessment of changing community needs.