FAQs

All gifts are tax-deductible to the fullest extent of the law. We don’t provide tax or legal advice, and we encourage you to consult with your professional advisor(s) before making a current or planned gift.

Professional advisors are defined as attorneys, accountants, trust officers, financial planners, certified life underwriters, investment advisors, and any other certified or licensed professionals who advise clients about maximizing tax benefits while fulfilling charitable intentions.

We can work closely with your professional advisor(s) to design a gift that meets your needs and achieves your charitable goals. Advisors work with us because:

We don’t represent a specific nonprofit or cause. Our mission is to help you support the nonprofits and  causes you care about.

Charitable giving laws change. Your advisor(s) can consult with us at any time.

There are no start-up fees, and management costs are low and assessed after you have received your full charitable deduction.

Your gift is given the same due diligence as any other investment you make. For more details, see Investment and Distribution of Fund Monies.

The advantage of creating a fund to support your charitable endeavors is that your intentions will be carried out exactly as you have specified, in perpetuity. Each year, your favorite nonprofit(s) will receive a grant, and/or students pursuing post-secondary education will benefit from a scholarship, and you, or the person(s) whom you’ve named the fund in honor or memory of, will always be remembered.

A donor may make a gift or bequest of any size to the Community Foundation for the community’s benefit and the gift will be used according to the donor’s instructions. Some donors designate specific organizations to receive their money. Others limit their gifts to specific areas of concern. Many donors provide unrestricted gifts to be used by the Community Foundation in responding to community needs as they arise.

The Community Foundation has information on various giving vehicles, including charitable trusts and charitable gift annuities. Charitable trusts and gift annuities allow a donor to support favorite charitable causes, enjoy a tax deduction and still receive an income.

The Community Foundation has a “sister” nonprofit organization called The Community Foundation Holding Company, Inc., which may serve as the trustee for charitable trusts. It may be the sole trustee or co-trustee, depending on a donor’s intentions.

Usually, a minimum gift of $100,000 is needed to establish a charitable trust.

I am interested in supporting my favorite charities, but I also need to consider helping my grandchildren through college. Is there a way I can do both?

There are many techniques to provide charitable support and financial support to a donor’s heirs through various charitable trust vehicles. The Community Foundation is the perfect source to investigate options.

Maybe. For estate tax purposes, a donor may be worth more or less than imagined. Some charitable trusts lessen an estate’s tax liability and benefit a donor’s heirs as well. Donors should contact the Community Foundation to investigate ways to pass more of their estate along to their heirs with less of a tax burden through certain charitable giving techniques.

A charitable bequest would provide meaningful financial support to a donor’s favorite charitable cause while reducing the size of the donor’s taxable estate.

Donors may include the Community Foundation in their will by making an outright bequest stating a specific dollar amount or percentage of the estate; donors may make the Community Foundation a beneficiary of a residual bequest in which the Community Foundation would be named to receive the remainder of their estate after their heirs have been provided for; or, donors might prefer a contingent bequest which provides for the Community Foundation only if others named in their will are not living at the time of the donor’s death. Whichever way a donor decides to include the Community Foundation in his or her will, the name of the fund to be created or added to, along with the purpose of the fund, should be clearly stated.

Individuals who make deferred gifts through their will, life insurance policies or charitable trusts are given membership in the Community Foundation’s Cornerstone Society. Individuals who contribute to the Community Foundation’s operating budget are recognized as members of its Widening Circles Campaign, and businesses are recognized as a Partner in Philanthropy. Additionally, donors who create permanent and pass through funds in their names enjoy the recognition that comes with having their name publicized during Community Foundation activities and within Community Foundation publications.

An employee matching gift program is an easy way to double your contribution to your favorite fund with The Community Foundation of Frederick County. To start the matching gift process, please do the following steps:

1. Check with your employer’s human resources office to see if they support matching gifts.
2. Then, you, the donor, must electronically submit a form through your employer or request a paper form from your HR/personnel office. Although many employers offer matching gift programs, each company is different, so it is important to check your company’s guidelines. Then, fill out your electronic or paper form and send it in with your gift.
3. If you are required to provide your employer with an Employer Identification Number (EIN), The Community Foundation of Frederick County’s number is 52-1488711.

If you have any questions about this process or would like additional information, please contact our Philanthropic Services Department by calling 301.695.7660 and Becki DeLauter, Assistant Vice President of Philanthropic Services.

To request that memorial contributions be directed to the Community Foundation and to establish a link on our website for people to donate, please do the following steps:

1. Contact the Philanthropic Services Department by calling 301.695.7660 during normal business hours and speak with:

-Becki DeLauter, Assistant Vice President of Philanthropic Services

2. The following information will be needed:

-name of deceased
-your relationship to deceased
-name of fund to which contributions should be directed, or
-discuss creating a new fund in memory of the deceased.

3. If assistance is needed during non-business hours, please contact Betsy Day, President and CEO of the Community Foundation, at 240-315-7462.

A specific URL to the fund’s donation page will be created to be used in the obituary and on the Community Foundation’s homepage (www.FrederickCountyGives.org) for people to donate to the fund.

We recommend that the following language be provided to the funeral home to include in obituaries:

“Memorial contributions can be mailed to The Community Foundation of Frederick County, 312 East Church St., Frederick, MD 21701, with NAME OF FUND noted in the check’s memo line. Secure, online donations may be made at www.FrederickCountyGives.org/NAME” (this will be the URL that is created to include in the obituary. Please see more information below).

More information about the specific URL that we create for memorial contributions.

The link that goes directly to the fund’s online donation page, www.FrederickCountyGives.org/NAME, can be used to link to the donation page from a website, in emails, obituaries, and print materials.

If you wish to promote donations to the fund through social media, please use the bitly link that we will provide. Social media, especially Facebook, often does not like the URLs through www.FrederickCountyGives.org. Donations to the fund through social media will be more successful using the bitly link.

If you have any questions about these ways for donors to donate to your fund, please contact us.