Types of Funds

Donor Advised Funds

Hudson Community Foundation’s most flexible fund, under the Donor Advised fund option, you create a fund in your name without naming any specific charitable institutions. Instead, you retain the right to advise HCF on your charitable desires, including who will manage the investments, who will receive grants from your fund, and finally whether you would like to name a successor when you die or make other arrangements.

Designated Fund

In a Designated Fund, you name a particular charity or charities to benefit from the fund. Each year, HCF distributes grants to those charities according to your specifications and HCF’s spending policy. You have the assurance of knowing that, if the organization you selected ceases to exist or the purpose of the grant cannot be met, HCF’s Board will preserve your original intent by redirecting the fund toward the closest similar use.

The Designated Fund is ideal if:

• Want to create a legacy or support for your favorite causes.
• Want to avoid administrative processes of charitable giving—from keeping receipts for tax records to simply sending a check regularly.
• Want to support specific organizations regularly and in perpetuity.
• Appreciate the efficiency of regular distributions sent by the Hudson Foundation to your designated charities.
• Have a required minimum distribution with your IRA, you can contribute up to $105,000 per per person.

Financial Facts:

• A Designated Fund can be established in any amount and for as little as $5,000 to get started.
• Your fund can be managed by your financial advisor or with HCF
• Each fund is charged a low 1% administrative fee for services. For funds over $1M the fee is lowered to 0.5%

Field of Interest Fund

Field of Interest Funds allow you to address a cause of particular importance to you without being locked into naming specific charities. HCF identifies important needs in the community which may be targets of your philanthropy including:

• Youth Education and Recreation
• Arts and Culture
• Hudson Social Services
• Historical and Environmental Preservation

In addition, you can specify your own field of interest. You name the purpose of the fund; HCF’s Board identifies the charitable projects that can most effectively accomplish your goals at any given time.

The Field of Interest Fund is most appropriate if:

• You have an abiding interest in a particular charitable cause rather than specific organizations.
• You recognize that charitable organizations may change their mission and effectiveness over time, or they may lose their charitable status.
• You want knowledgeable and professional help in carrying on your philanthropic interests after your death.
• You are considering creating a private foundation to support a particular charitable cause.

Scholarship Fund

Scholarship funds can be established by an individual, a corporation or a group of people, such as a club or group of individuals to memorialize someone. These funds can supply financial support for students at any level of education throughout the country. The Foundation can provide a range of services to scholarship funds, including designing the scholarship criteria and application process and working with a scholarship advisory committee. 

Agency Fund

An agency fund helps nonprofit organizations and other organizations serving charitable missions, build long-term assets and serves as a home for reserve funds. Organizations that have agency funds enjoy low-cost investment options, donor services, nonprofit accounting service and third-party oversight of their assets. Plus, the nonprofit staff can access our expertise by connecting with our philanthropic advisors.

Memorial Fund: Honoring a Loved One

When a loved one dies, keeping their memory alive is a way of honoring their life, finding comfort as a survivor and preserving their memory.  A gift in their honor can be made to any existing fund at Hudson Community Foundation (HCF) or establish a new fund in their memory.  Memorial funds at HCF can be named to honor your loved one or your entire family.  Grants from your fund will continue to preserve their memory with each gift.  Often when starting a memorial fund families focus on something their loved one cared deeply about, such as child welfare, animal rescue, or a certain medical condition.  With a donation to an existing fund, families can utilize HCF’s board to meet the community’s emerging and future needs and opportunities.

Special Pass Through Fund

A pass through fund is like a charitable checking account. The fund provides a conduit through which charitable contributions flow towards a specific project, program, or area of interest. A pass-through fund offers philanthropists the opportunity to give directly to one or several charitable organizations, using all available funds. The fund is not considered an endowment fund. The fund is short term and distributions may be made upon request up to the full balance of the fund. 

A pass-through fund releases you from the burden of charitable giving paperwork including receipting donors, depositing donations, and posting contributions. The fund is held under the 501c3 umbrella of the Foundation, eliminating the need for the fund to apply for a nonprofit status. The Foundation invests and manages donations to the fund and manages the cash accounts. Fund financial responsibilities such as IRS 990 preparation are included in the Foundation account records.

Charitable organizations can also open a pass-through fund to maximize donations for a capital campaign.