Community Foundation for the Land of Lincoln

WHY THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION FOR THE LAND OF LINCOLN? The Community Foundation offers many advantages to donors, professional advisors, nonprofit organizations and the community at large. We constantly strive to ensure that the giving process is as streamlined and safe as possible so our donors can focus on the most important aspect of philanthropy - helping others. Some of the rewards of choosing to work with us include: Permanence. As living memorials, funds held by the Community Foundation for the Land of Lincoln can carry out the desired charitable interests in perpetuity. If a fund's purpose becomes outdated over time, the Community Foundation can redirect it to similar purposes. Tax Advantages. Because we're a public charity and not a private foundation, all donations qualify for the maximum available deduction for charitable contributions. Our funds also avoid the excise taxes and other restrictions placed on private foundations. Charitable Impact. The Foundation understands the needs and roles of nonprofit organizations in our service area, so we can help our funds target grants and scholarships where they do the most good. By pooling contributions for administration and investment purposes, we incur lower management costs than a separate private foundation. This means more money goes to the desired causes than in other arrangements where overhead costs are higher. Flexibility. Each donor can name a fund or remain anonymous, permanently endow their gifts or not, choose general charitable purposes or very specific ones, make modest gifts or large ones, and donate assets ranging from cash to real estate to artwork. Convenience. Most funds can be created in one brief meeting. Afterward, the donor retains the satisfaction of giving while we take care of management and paperwork. Leadership. The Community Foundation can be a place where concerned citizens can discuss and address, through grantmaking and simple dialogue, the important issues that impact our community. Community organizations can look to the neutrality of the Community Foundation to bring people together for the common good.