Lenawee Trust
Your gift will address ever-changing community needs—including future needs that often cannot be anticipated at the time your gift is made. We evaluate all aspects of community well-being—arts and culture, economic development, education, environment, health and human services, neighborhood revitalization and more. The flexibility of your unrestricted gift enables the community foundation’s program experts to respond to the community’s most pressing needs, today and tomorrow.
Additional Ways to Give
Lenawee Community Foundation currently manages 250 charitable funds. If Lenawee Trust is not the right fit for you philanthropic gifts, there are a number of different ways to give back to your community.
Donor-Advised Funds
You have ongoing involvement in how your gift is used to support charitable causes. You recommend grants to qualified nonprofits. Our professional program staff is available to help identify nonprofits working to address the issues and needs you care about most. We also handle all due diligence, ensuring nonprofits are in good standing. Your recommendations are submitted to our board for approval; we then distribute grant dollars. Donor advised funds are great for individuals, families and businesses.
Field of Interest Funds
You can target your gift to address needs in an important area of community life that’s most important to you: arts, the environment, youth or aging, etc. You identify your personal interest area when making your gift; our board awards grants to nonprofits and programs that are making a difference in the area you select.
Scholarships
You can use your gift to help students achieve their educational goals, all with the guidance and personal services of the community foundation. You work with our staff to determine the criteria students must meet to receive the scholarship you establish. We handle applications and process scholarship awards.
Designated Funds
You can direct your gift to a specific nonprofit organization or purpose. Help provide ongoing funding for a senior center, museum or virtually any nonprofit close to your heart. The fund provides a steady and reliable source of annual support. The organization can use a designated fund through the community foundation to build their endowment and enhance their ability to accept large and complex gifts.
Establish a Fund in Your Name
Please contact us to learn more about the gift size needed to establish a particular fund. Any of the funds described here can be established in your name, or in the name of your family, your organization or anyone you wish to honor. All grants distributed from the fund you establish—today and in the future—are awarded to charities in the name of your fund. This is an impactful way to establish a lasting legacy of generosity and community support.
Supporting Organizations
You can use your gift to establish an excellent alternative to a private foundation—with only a fraction of the administrative responsibilities. You select some of the board members, maintain personal involvement and support the causes and organizations you care about while enjoying the favorable tax treatment of a public charity. Leave investment management, startup costs, grant administration and reporting to your community foundation.
Area Community Funds
Area community funds address current and anticipated needs in specific areas of Lenawee County. The funds support the areas of civic, cultural, health, educational, and social services and are coordinated by an Area Community Fund Advisory Committee, comprised of individuals who are representative of the geographic area.
