Types of Funds
Click on the type of fund to read a more detailed description. Or you may contact our Director of Development, Chuck Salter, at chuck@nevadacf.org to learn how to create a fund for today or as a part of your estate plans.
Donor Advised Funds offer active participation in grant making by allowing you to recommend different charitable organizations (locally, nationally, or internationally) to receive gifts from your fund. You get immediate tax benefits upon the fund's creation, and you can advise on granting preferences to a variety of nonprofit organizations and fields of interest that can change over time.
Designated Funds allow you to identify a specific charitable organization to receive support from your fund. Should that organization ever cease to exist or should its mission no longer agree with your interest, the Nevada Community Foundation will redirect grants from your fund to organizations with similar purposes.
Field of Interest Funds allow you to support a specific charitable field, such as arts, education, health and human services, or the environment without designating specific recipient organizations. With a field of interest fund, you specify the "field" and rely on the Nevada Community Foundation's Distributions Committee to make grants on your fund's behalf to organizations making the greatest impact in your chosen field of interest.
Unrestricted Funds give you the opportunity to invest broadly in our community's future. Creating a named, unrestricted fund (or contributing to the general Southern Nevada Unity Fund) enables the Nevada Community Foundation to identify and respond to emerging and changing community needs, to support the creation of innovative responses to evolving community problems, and to enhance the quality of community life over time. You place no restrictions on how your contribution is to be used, leaving those decisions to the Nevada Community Foundation's Distributions Committee, whose continuing expertise on vital community issues and charitable organizations informs the grant-making process.
Scholarship Funds provide deserving students financial support for education they might not otherwise receive. Scholarships are designed with your specific interests in mind - you define the selection committee, guidelines for candidate selection, requirements and award use.
Organization Endowment Funds are established by nonprofit organizations as a means of protecting and investing their charitable dollars for the future. A nonprofit, whether large or small, can better spend its time pursuing its mission and fundraising, while the Nevada Community Foundation handles the management and investment of the fund.
Supporting Organizations (SOs) are separate 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations with their own board of directors, investment and grant-making processes. S.O.s are an attractive alternative for individuals who have highly appreciated assets; want more legal control than a donor-advised fund provides; and want to avoid the administrative and financial burdens of a private foundation.