Can we do a fund with a mixture of purposes? 
Often the answer is ‘yes,’ however, some purposes need to be kept in separate funds.  For instance, a donor advised fund cannot award grants (including scholarships) to individuals.  Tell us what your client wants to do, we’ll figure out options to accomplish it.  We have experience in helping donors establish multiple funds with diverse granting purposes and single funds that divide grant dollars to support both specific and broad interests.

My client wants to benefit many of his favorite charities through his estate, but he also wants simplicity and flexibility to adjust the names of charities or amounts they are to receive.  Is there a way to complete a fund agreement that will accomplish this?
The Community Foundation of Shelby County can be the single beneficiary of charitable gifts from an estate that may go to other charities over time or all-at-once.  It simplifies and centralizes a client’s list of charitable beneficiaries.

A fund agreement may be written and then adjusted, so long as no gift has yet been received to establish the fund.  We can rewrite an unfunded charitable fund agreement periodically if charity names are to be added or removed or if the client desires to adjust the amount or percentage going to a charity. 

Another way to accomplish this is to prepare a donor advised fund agreement that will be advised by a close family member or business associate. The donor may provide to the advisor updated lists of preferred charities and amounts or percentages each charity is to receive.   After the estate gifts have been placed into the fund, the fund advisor(s) will be able to use their discretion in recommending grants, so trust in the advisor(s) to try to follow the donor’s list is critical. In the case where a donor dies after a long-term disability where communication regarding updated lists was not possible, the advisor can use discretion in awarding grants that are responsive to changes in organizations and community needs.

My client’s stock portfolio contains investments purchased decades ago.  To trace cost basis will be a difficult, time-consuming task. How can the client avoid the task and the capital gains taxes and in turn, benefit the community? 
Publicly traded stock can be deducted at the average price per share on the date ownership was transferred to the Community Foundation.  An electronic transfer of stock is the easiest transaction, but we will also assist in the transfer of paper certificates.  Once we accept the stock gift, we sell the stock and place the proceeds in any existing or newly established charitable fund.