Ask Kim
Community Foundations Make Giving Easier
My son wants to start a scholarship fund for families who cannot afford to pay for little league baseball. How would I start a scholarship fund?
By Kimberly Lankford, Contributing Editor, Kiplinger's Personal Finance
May 14, 2004
My nephew passed away one month ago from a senseless car accident. My son wants to start a scholarship fund for families who cannot afford to pay for little league baseball. My nephew loved baseball. How would I start a scholarship fund?
That's such a thoughtful idea. You probably can find the help you need at your local community foundation. It could help you track down existing funds or start your own.
Also check with the national Little League headquarters. They have two programs that might interest you:
- Urban Initiative helps set up little league programs in urban areas, and now has about 100 leagues in 55 cities across the U.S.
- Challenger Division sets up little league programs for physically and mentally disabled children ages 5 to 18. Kids who aren't disabled also get involved by serving as buddies to the disabled players.
Both organizations have charitable funds that let your contributions qualify for an income-tax deduction, and you can often earmark your money for a specific community.
Your local community foundation could help you find other programs in your area that help kids from low-income families join Little League or participate in other local recreational programs.
If you don't find an established fund that meets your needs, the foundation could help you set up a fund or suggest other ways to support recreational programs in low-income areas. They're experts in the tax laws and administration of these funds, which will make the process much easier for you.
"Community Foundations make charitable giving easier and can think of creative approaches for setting up a fund or contributing to something that already exists," says Jennifer Jobrack, director of communications for the Chicago Community Trust, the Chicago-area community foundation.
To find a community foundation in your area, check out the Community Foundation Locator.
Community foundations can also help you set up a donor-advised fund in honor of your nephew. You and other family members can create the fund and contribute the money now. You would receive an income-tax deduction in the year your gift was made, but have an unlimited amount of time to decide how the money would be spent. You can usually make grants of as little of $250 at a time, while the rest of the money grows in an investment fund until you're ready to give it away. The fund can last for decades, honoring your nephew for generations.
You also can set up a donor-advised fund through several mutual fund companies and brokerage firms, such as T. Rowe Price, Vanguard and Charles Schwab. The fund administrators all have a lot of resources to help you decide how to spend the money. For more information about donor-advised funds, see Buy Time With Charitable Contributions.
