"Community foundations are collections of funds, not one pot of unrestricted dollars." ~ Ada Mary Gugenheim, The Chicago Community Trust

TYPES OF FUNDS

• Unrestricted: A community foundation’s staff and board have the greatest flexibility in allocating these dollars to meet local needs and priorities. However, unrestricted funds have not grown as quickly as other funds in most community foundations and typically do not keep up with the demand for grants.
• Donor Advised: These funds are established by families or individuals who want to actively participate in grantmaking without creating their own philanthropy. Foundation staff informs them of causes and nonprofit organizations in the donors’ areas of interest. The benefactors recommend how their philanthropy will be distributed.
• Field of Interest: Although foundation staff decides how these funds are awarded, they are restricted to projects in certain topic areas such as education, the arts, basic human needs, or children. Sometimes the category is more narrowly focused such as money strictly for nursing education.
• Designated: These dollars directly benefit a specific institution such as a hospital, museum, or shelter or a designated nonprofit agency. If the beneficiary ceases to exist, the community foundation has the power to direct future funds to another agency with a similar purpose.

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