Your Local Experts

As your local experts in philanthropy, CFHZ offers personal attention to our donors and deeper connections to the nonprofits whose work is essential to effecting local community change. 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. If you want to ensure your dollars are making the greatest impact, consider CFHZ your trusted resource for local giving and a charitable fund as a vehicle to accomplish your goals.

Local Impact

Our local expertise is reflected in our grantmaking. Responsive grants respond to a variety of opportunities across the community. Proactive grants were developed in partnership with local 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.

When you want to share your philanthropic resources locally, we are the best resource for both a high-level understanding of challenges and opportunities and a deep dive into your specific charitable interest areas. Our team welcomes the opportunity to research and identify causes aligned with your goals and priorities. We offer a well-rounded, holistic approach to philanthropy and will walk alongside you to invest in local solutions to local problems.

Charitable Funds

The Community Foundation offers a wide range of charitable funds to help you achieve your goals. Two fund options that can assist donors giving locally are donor advised funds and unrestricted funds.

Donor Advised Funds

A donor advised fund (DAF) is a flexible, low-cost solution to charitable giving that allows you to enjoy tax advantages, administrative convenience, and the ability to make grants to registered nonprofits in our community and beyond. There is no minimum required to open a DAF, and you can add to your fund at any time. A DAF at CFHZ has the additional benefit of personal service by knowledgeable staff to complete gifts of appreciated stock or complex assets such as real estate or closely-held stock. There are also opportunities to learn more about specific local issue areas through communications and special events.

Unrestricted Funds

For donors who want to improve lives for generations to come, an unrestricted fund may be a good fit. This is a particularly good option for those who are age 70 ½ or older. You can make annual distributions up to $105,000 per individual from your IRA directly to an unrestricted fund at CFHZ. This transfer is called a “Qualified Charitable Distribution,” or “QCD.” Not only do QCD transfers count toward satisfying Required Minimum Distributions, but you also avoid the income tax on those funds. Furthermore, those assets are no longer part of your estate upon death, so you can avoid estate taxes on those assets too.

Interested in learning more? Reach out to Colleen Hill, VP of Development & Donor Services, for more information on how you can support current and future local needs, achieve your philanthropic goals, and leave a legacy.