FAQs about unrestricted funds

Expanding your impact: FAQs about unrestricted funds

Year-end is a busy and fun time for many reasons, including supporting causes you care about. This season, three occasions help celebrate the importance of charitable giving:

• National Philanthropy Day, observed November 15, has been recognized in the U.S. since 1986. 
• Community Foundation Week, an annual observance recognizing the work of community foundations across the country, is set for November 12 – 18 this year. 
• Giving Tuesday, a global generosity movement occurs on December 1 this year. (Americans gave $4.0 billion on Giving Tuesday 2025, up 13% from the year before!) 

Philanthropy takes many forms, and The Community Foundation of the Endless Mountains is honored every single day to work with so many individuals, families, businesses, and nonprofit organizations to improve quality of life in our region. Whatever your favorite cause, the community foundation is here to help you achieve your charitable goals.

Take a moment to reflect on all the ways you give back, from volunteering and serving on nonprofit boards to establishing a donor-advised fund or another type of fund at the community foundation to organize your charitable giving. You’re making a difference! 

As you consider your philanthropy goals during this year’s giving season, you may want to expand your impact by making an unrestricted gift to one of our Community Funds, including the Susquehanna County Community Fund, Wyoming County Community Fund, Bradford County Community Fund or Sullivan County Community Fund.

You may also choose to establish your own unrestricted fund. An unrestricted fund gives the community foundation’s board of directors and professional staff the flexibility to direct your charitable dollars where they are needed most. This allows your gift to respond to the community’s changing needs and make a lasting difference, both today and for generations to come.

Consider a few frequently asked questions about unrestricted funds:

Why invest in The Community Foundation of the Endless Mountains through an unrestricted fund?

• Major advantages of the community foundation include its perpetual structure, community-based governance, and commitment to addressing the community’s changing needs. An unrestricted fund allows you and your family to provide support that evolves over time as priorities in the region shift.
• The community foundation’s mission is to thoroughly understand the community and improve lives within it.
• The community foundation’s board and professional staff continually assess community needs and work with local organizations to identify opportunities for impact.
• Establishing an unrestricted fund means you are investing in the community foundation’s ability to address today’s most pressing needs and those we can’t yet anticipate.

What are the steps to establish an unrestricted fund?

The community foundation’s professional staff will work with you to create documentation that establishes your unrestricted fund. Notably:

• You may name the fund whatever you’d like.
• You may add assets to the fund during your lifetime. In the alternative, or in addition, you may wish to make arrangements in your estate plan for the fund to receive a bequest from your will, trust, or beneficiary designation following your death.
• As is the case with other contributions to community foundation funds, lifetime gifts to your unrestricted fund generally qualify for an income tax charitable deduction, subject to applicable tax rules and limitations. Qualifying charitable bequests to the fund may also be eligible for a federal estate tax charitable deduction.

How is an unrestricted fund administered?

• When you establish an unrestricted fund at the community foundation, you are engaging the foundation’s board of directors and professional staff to use the money in the fund to achieve the greatest impact for the community for the long term.
• Every day, the team at the community foundation works with members of our board of directors, civic leaders, and nonprofit organizations to deeply understand where people need help.
• Today, the most pressing needs might be for emergency assistance in response to a disaster. Tomorrow, the need could be for education, youth services, research to improve access to healthcare, or something else entirely.
• Your community foundation has its finger on the pulse of the community’s top priorities and works with local partners to identify the best ways to address them.  

Ways to make an unrestricted gift 

You can certainly give cash to establish your unrestricted fund or make an unrestricted gift to the community foundation. Here are other options that may be more tax-advantageous:

• Giving stock or other long-term appreciated assets directly to the community foundation can be more tax-efficient than selling them, incurring capital gains tax, and giving the proceeds. 
• If you’re 70½ or older, you may be able to make an unrestricted gift to the community foundation or an eligible unrestricted fund through a qualified charitable distribution (QCD) made directly from your IRA.
• Naming the Community Foundation of the Endless Mountains as a beneficiary in your will, trust, or IRA, and directing the gift to an unrestricted fund, is another way to create a lasting legacy.

As always, please consult your estate planning and tax advisors to learn how each type of gift may or may not apply in your own situation. 

Whether you would like to move forward with an unrestricted gift in the near future, or simply would like to learn more, please reach out to me, Jill Swingle, Director of Operations at [email protected]  Our team is always here for you. Most of all, thank you for all you do on National Philanthropy Day, during Community Foundation Week, on Giving Tuesday, and every day to make our community a better place!