Donors
Donor FAQs
A wide variety of fund types are available which are suited to many donors:
- Donor Advised Funds – The leading type, giving the donor the most control of the eventual disposition of funds.
- Designated Funds – Specified distributions over time to specific organizations.
- Scholarship Funds – Can be customized to your selection criteria but must be made widely available to prevent any conflict of interest.
- Living Legacy Funds – A form of Donor Advised Fund created during your lifetime which provides a smooth transition to a Legacy Fund after your passing.
- Legacy Funds – Which execute your final wishes using specific instructions in your will and continue to be managed by the Board of Directors.
- Healthy Community Funds – Which broadly help our community. These can be targeted to specific areas-of-interest.
Many funds already exist at the Foundation that might already fit your needs. You can make a gift to these established Funds and receive the same tax advantages and recognition that starting your own fund would provide.
Personal Donor Advised Funds (DAFs) and the Healthy Community Funds are the most popular.
New funds can be processed immediately but plan on a week before the fund is active.
Donor Advised Funds provide the most control for a donor who may make recommendations to the Foundation for a grant. Other funds are designed to give the Board of the Foundation greater discretion in allocating funds to where they are needed most. A call to a member of the Foundation’s executive team at (360) 378-1001 will provide the most detailed advice on what fund types will best suit your needs.
The minimum is $5,000. If this is not possible please call the Foundation for a consultation. Scholarship Funds require a significantly greater degree of administrative management and therefore have a minimum of $10,000.
You may contribute a wide variety of assets to your fund. Cash (checks or EFTs), stocks and bonds (usually through electronic transfer) are the most common assets that we receive. For other assets, such as real estate, real property, IRA Rollovers, Life Insurance benefits and Testamentary Gifts. Please call the Foundation office at (360) 378-1001 for more information.
Endowed funds place a restriction on the use of the principle and within certain restrictions, allow only payouts from the earnings. Since earnings vary, the annual payout is directed by the Foundation’s spending policy, which is reviewed annually to ensure the long term preservation of the principal.
No, in fact most are not. Many funds are established with unrestricted use of both earnings and principal. The choice is made by the donor at the time the fund is created.
The Foundation pools its fund assets for investment. Assets are held by a fiduciary agent and are invested according to a board approved investment policy. An outside investment consultant handles the day to day portfolio under criteria established by the board and administered by the Foundation Investment Committee. The investment policy emphasizes a conservative approach for preservation of capital using a balance of industry standard vehicles. High risk investments are avoided.
All funds are pooled for investment and therefore individual fund investment options are not available. Pooling allows access to institutional funds that perform better and are less expensive to own.
Fees are comprised of two components: There is a very small investment management fee which is passed from the Foundation’s professional fund advisors and an administrative fee to cover the Foundation’s work to manage our donors’ funds. Administrative fee amounts are specified in the “SJICF Fund Administration Fees” and can be found on the Donor Resources page. Please call (360) 378-1001 for more information.
A spending policy applies only to endowed funds and specifies the maximum annual payout rate that is predicted to ensure preservation of principal. Payouts may be carried forward to subsequent years. The policy is reviewed periodically and is established in conjunction with the advice of our outside investment consultant. Please contact the office to learn more (360) 378-1001. Non-endowed funds may request grant distributions that include both principle and earnings. A copy of the Spending Policy may be found on the Donor Resources page.
Yes. If you are 70½ years or older you may make an IRA rollover gift of up to $100,000, tax free, to a Foundation fund but IRA rollover gifts may not be made to a donor advised fund per IRS rules and regulations. IRA rollover donations are most often directed to a Designated Fund with fixed distributions determined prior to the gift. Please contact the office for assistance (360) 378-1001.
Yes. Anyone may contribute to your Donor Advised Fund and receive a tax deduction. We request that you consult with your tax professional to confirm your particular situation.
Donor advisors may recommend a grant in writing by sending an email to staff with your instructions. Alternatively, you can submit the Recommend A Grant Form online, or download a pdf and complete offline. The pdf can be filled out using Acrobat and emailed to info@sjicf.org, or it can be printed and mailed to SJICF at PO Box 1352, Friday Harbor, WA 98250. If you wish to hand deliver please drop it by the office at 640 Mullis Street, Suite 104. These forms can be found on the Donor Resources page. Please contact the office at (360) 378-1001 anytime and we will be happy to assist you.
All grant recommendations are reviewed by the Foundation Grants Committee. The Grants Committee meets three times a year. Grant recommendations are reviewed for compliance with the fund terms established by the donor fund and nonprofit qualification of the proposed grantee organization. By policy, grant requests under $5,000 may be verified and awarded by the Grants Committee. Recommendations over $5,000 are passed to the full Foundation Board for approval. The Board meets quarterly. Expedited processing of a grant request is possible and may entail an additional fee. The minimum expedited time is two weeks.
Grant checks are usually issued within 7 days of final approval (see previous question on grant recommendations). Expedited service can be arranged and may entail an additional fee due to the additional out-of-cycle administrative overhead.
A wide variety of assets can be gifted to the Foundation. In general, any asset that can be converted to cash can be gifted. This is a Foundation policy requirement. The simplest assets are cash, credit card, stocks & bonds. For assistance or more information, please call the office (360) 378-1001 or refer to the Assets Transfer Instructions which may be found under Donor Resources.
Instructions for transferring stocks and bonds can be found on the Donor Resources page. It is important to contact the office (360) 378-1001 to notify staff before executing an electronic transfer.
No. Since the donor would be receiving a benefit using tax advantaged gifts, the IRS prohibits this use.
No. Since the donor would in effect be predetermining the use of funds and also receiving a benefit using tax advantaged gifts, the IRS prohibits this use.
Yes. One of the common uses of a donor advised fund is to provide anonymity. Confidentiality is paramount to our work.
Fund balances are maintained and updated on a quarterly basis to the fund holder via mailed statements. Call the Foundation office at (360) 378-1001 for current balances.
Administrative fees are applied quarterly on the current fund balance and based upon the annualized rate.
Donations are usually processed within 72 hours depending on the type of asset gifted.
Account statements are issued on a quarterly basis, usually within 3 weeks following the end of the previous quarter.
We employ standard, industry accepted data encryption to ensure safe and secure data transfers on our website. Online donations are made through PayPal, which uses its standard measures to ensure account information security. While the Foundation will continue to adhere to industry standards for online access, we cannot ultimately guarantee total security. We are prepared to make special offline arrangements with any donor who is uncomfortable with online access.