Giving locally

Your charitably-minded clients have no shortage of options for their philanthropic dollars. Many clients use their donor-advised funds at CFHZ to support nonprofits across the country – including alma maters, organizations in the communities where they’ve lived in the past or have a second home, or nonprofit initiatives where their grown children are now living.

Many clients, though, are also deeply committed to the greater Holland/Zeeland area. They want to give back to the community in which they raised their children, built a business, or found connections as retirees. It’s helpful to remind your clients that CFHZ is a resource when they want to ensure their dollars are making the greatest local impact.

Local experts in philanthropy

As the local experts in philanthropy, CFHZ can offer personal attention to our donors and deeper connections to the nonprofits whose work is essential to effecting local community change. We are intentional in building trusting relationships with our nonprofit partners, and grateful for the feedback and insights they share about their work to serve our neighbors in need. Our team has a finger on the pulse of community needs, the strengths of specific nonprofits, and how to structure grant making for the highest possible community benefit.

This local expertise is reflected in our grantmaking. Our responsive grants respond to a variety of opportunities across the community. Our proactive grants were developed through feedback from nonprofits and community leaders to invest in solutions to three areas of high need in the Holland/Zeeland area:

• Increasing access to and availability of mental health care services.
• Leveraging out-of-school time to mitigate the education opportunity gap.
• Increasing the consistency of healthy parent/other caring adult relationships in kids’ lives.

How we can help your clients

When your client wants to make a positive impact locally, we are the best resource for both a high-level understanding of challenges and opportunities and a deep dive into your clients’ specific charitable interest areas. Our team welcomes the opportunity to research and identify causes aligned with donors’ goals and priorities. We offer a well-rounded, holistic approach to philanthropy that can help your clients’ commitment to solving local problems with local solutions.

In addition, an unrestricted fund at CFHZ may be a good fit for clients who want to improve lives, right here in this community, for generations to come. And it may be particularly compelling for your clients who are 70 ½ or older. These clients may be eligible to make annual distributions up to $105,000 per spouse from their IRAs directly to their unrestricted fund. This transfer is called a Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD). Not only do QCD transfers count toward satisfying Required Minimum Distributions, but your client also avoids the income tax on those funds. Furthermore, those assets are no longer part of the client’s estate upon death, so the client can avoid estate taxes, too.

Please reach out to us for more information on how we can assist your clients who want to support both current and future local needs, and also meet their own financial, tax, and generational legacy goals.

We always encourage donors to first seek the advice of their legal, financial, or tax advisors when considering a gift of non-cash assets. While our team does not offer tax advice, we stay knowledgeable on charitable giving strategies. Please contact Colleen Hill, Vice President of Development & Donor Services, at chill@cfhz.org or by calling 616–994–8853 if we can help you serve your clients.