Bequests and Legacy Gifts

Leave a lasting impact on the Island by including the Foundation in your estate planning, and customizing how your legacy gift will be used in perpetuity, either to benefit specific organizations, scholars, or more general fields of impact on Martha’s Vineyard.

Donor Advised Funds

A Donor Advised Fund allows you to be more involved in executing your philanthropic wishes. You may make grant recommendations from your fund to any qualified nonprofit serving Martha’s Vineyard.  You also may wish to work with the Foundation to identify and evaluate charities of interest to you. With one gift, you create a financial resource for supporting the Island community. Donor Advised Funds provide flexibility so as your interests and the needs of the community change, your giving can too. A gift of $20,000 is required to establish an endowed fund and a $5,000 contribution opens a non-endowed fund. The minimum amount of a grant from a Donor Advised Fund is $250.

Donor Designated Funds

Donor Designated Funds ensure that support is directed to the specific charities you name. Through its variance power, the Community Foundation is able to direct gifts from your fund in keeping with your charitable intentions even if a designated recipient ceases to exist or significantly changes its mission. A contribution of $20,000 is required to open an endowed fund and a gift of $5,000 creates a non-endowed fund.

Field of Interest Funds

Field of Interest Funds support an area of Island life that is important to you such as the arts, education, the environment or the health of members of the community. You decide where you want to make a difference and the Community Foundation directs grants from your fund to organizations that are working to better the quality of life on the Island in that particular field. An endowed Field of Interest Fund can be established with a $20,000 gift, or bequest. A $5,000 contribution can create a non-endowed fund.

Hybrid Funds

Work with Foundation to customize your fund or bequest for maximum impact and flexibility.

  • Create a hybrid Grants and Scholarships fund, either in your chosen field of impact, or unrestricted in any way.
  • Create a financially flexible hybrid Endowment & Pass-Through fund in which you can enjoy greater liquidity with a percentage of your fund, while always keeping some funds safely growing in perpetuity.

In as many creative and entrepreneurial ways as possible, the Foundation will work with you to build customized options through which you can best express your key philanthropic ideals.

Scholarship Funds

Through a scholarship fund, donors support Island students pursuing further education. You determine the guidelines for candidate selection and the requirements for use of the award as well as contribute to the work of the Community Foundation’s Scholarships Committee which evaluates every scholarship application and determines all awards. A $20,000 gift, or bequest opens an endowed fund and a $5,000 gift creates a non-endowed scholarship fund.

Unrestricted Funds

Contributions to the Community Foundation’s General Discretionary Fund provide unrestricted support for both the current and future needs of Island public and charitable organizations. The Foundation’s Board determines grant awards from this endowed fund based on an annual competitive grant application process. This fund provides resources for the Community Foundation to respond to changing community needs, to support solutions to community challenges and to enhance the quality of community life. Gifts to the General Discretionary Fund are welcome at any time and in any amount. You also may create your own unrestricted fund for the benefit of the Vineyard community with a gift, or bequest of $20,000 for an endowed fund or $5,000 for a non-endowed fund.

Establishing a Fund

Establishing a fund with the Martha’s Vineyard Community Foundation is a simple and effective way to accomplish your goals for charitable giving. The Foundation invests the gifts and bequests it receives, and then, applies a percentage of the funds earned to support grants to Island nonprofit organizations and scholarships for Island students. As your partner in philanthropy, we will work with you to make sure that your funds improve the quality of life on the Vineyard, not only today but forever.

For more information

To establishing a fund with the Community Foundation, or to discuss your philanthropic interests and giving options, contact us directly at:
508-338-4665 or by email, below.

Email us
Martha's Vineyard Community Foundation