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Last Updated Feb 2008


Scholarship Funds
Creating a charitable legacy for yourself or someone that you love provides an opportunity to carry on the philanthropic spirit that you or your loved one embodied in life. Any fund type that is available at the Community Foundation can be named in honor of an individual or family and will forever provide gifts in that name. If you have made or plan to make a provision in your Will to establish a fund to carry on your charitable giving, please complete and send a Legacy Society form so that we can properly recognize your generosity during your lifetime.

Though any type of fund can be named, memorial funds are often created as Community Funds or Scholarship Funds.

Community Funds
Giving broadly to support the Central New York community can be accomplished through the establishment of a Community Fund in your name or the name of a loved one. After your lifetime you want to make a charitable contribution which will ensure the best quality of life for your community. You believe that a group of living men and women are better able to assess current situations than a written document from the past, no matter how perceptive. Such unrestricted gifts are, of course, the most flexible in meeting any new emerging charitable needs.

To establish this fund after your death, provide in your Will a charitable bequest designated as a community fund at the Central New York Community Foundation. Grants will be given from the fund in your name, but you give the Community Foundation the entire responsibility to select the most appropriate organizations to receive grants at that time. Grants may be made in any of the major areas of philanthropy--arts and culture, civic affairs, education, environment, health or human services.

Scholarship Funds
Establishing a Scholarship Fund is a common way to provide for the education deserving young people in memory of a loved one. The administration of scholarship programs takes a great deal of time and consideration and must conform strictly to legal requirements of impartiality and integrity. By establishing the fund through the Community Foundation, you accomplish the main goal of a scholarship – to help students – and let the Community Foundation worry about the compliance and administration of the award.

You set up your named fund as a scholarship fund in the Central New York Community Foundation. You may, if you wish, specify either the schools the students have graduated from or the ones to which they will be admitted. The scholarships may be for any level of education you specify. The Community Foundation will present scholarship awards to qualified educational institutions and monitor the process annually to make sure your purpose is fully respected.

Ready to open a fund or in need of customized assistance?
Please contact Dirk Sonneborn, Vice President for Development, for answers to your questions or assistance in opening a new fund. He can be reached by phone at 315.422.9538 or by email.