Create a Fund

Fund minimum: $10,000

Change is certain. By creating an unrestricted fund, you can help to address the region's most urgent needs as they change over time.

Unrestricted funds support the most promising, creative approaches to strengthening the Greater Hartford region.

The Hartford Foundation has a long history responding to our community's changing circumstances. With close to 70% of the total endowment held in unrestricted funds, the Foundation has the flexibility to meet urgent needs and respond to opportunities into the future.

The income from unrestricted funds at the Foundation is pooled together to support the Foundation's broad grantmaking throughout the region.

Fund minimum: $50,000 (A donor-advised fund may start at $25,000 and grow to $50,000.)

Do you want to be actively involved in your grantmaking? By creating a donor-advised fund, you can partner with the Hartford Foundation to support your areas of interest, even if your interests change.
You recommend grants from your fund to qualified nonprofit organizations throughout the Greater Hartford region and across the country.  If you want help in choosing organizations or structuring the grant, you can take advantage of the Hartford Foundation staff’s expertise about grantmaking and the region’s nonprofit community.

You can even involve other family members or future generations in making recommendations.

Whether you are looking for a hands-on approach to giving or an effective alternative to creating a private foundation, donor-advised funds offer the greatest flexibility to meet your charitable needs.

Fund minimum: $50,000

A college education is more important than ever in today’s economy, and more expensive than ever.

You can support a college education for deserving young people or enterprising adults with an Individual Scholarship Fund at the Foundation. Your fund can be listed in your name or you can choose to name it after a family member to memorialize his or her commitment to education.

With an Individual Scholarship Fund you can support the Foundation’s College Scholarship Program or award separate scholarships. Either way, you can specify selection criteria for the type of students you’d like to support. Our knowledgeable staff can help you fine-tune your support to meet your charitable goals.

You, or other fund representatives, may also participate in the Hartford Foundation board-approved selection process. The Foundation handles all scholarship marketing, distributions and renewals.

If $50,000 is more of a commitment than you can make now, you can give any amount to the Hartford Foundation's General Scholarship Endowment Fund. A gift of $10,000 allows you to name an annual scholarship award from General Scholarship Endowment Fund.

Fund minimum: $10,000

A Field of Interest Fund enables you to have an impact in a specific interest area, population or town, and tap into the expertise and knowledge of the Hartford Foundation.  Foundation staff will annually identify organizations performing most effectively within your chosen focus, and award grants from your fund accordingly.

Field of Interest funds combine your interests with flexibility to respond to changing needs and organizations.

Fund minimum: $10,000

Do you want to support a favorite charity, cause, town or population, but still want your fund to be backed by the strength and stability of the Hartford Foundation?

With a Preference Fund, you can request that the Foundation take into account the needs of named charities or specific causes in making grants from your fund.

Foundation staff views your named charity or cause with preference when reviewing relevant applications. We will also reach out to these organizations if they have not sought funding over time.

With a Preference Fund, your fund remains active and useful if needs change or closely related needs emerge in future years.

Fund minimum: $10,000

Do you have some favorite charities, but worry that those organizations don’t have experience managing an endowment or may cease to exist in the future?  With a designated fund, you can support those charities with the comfort that your fund will live on at the Hartford Foundation, and will continue to support the needs of the community.

A Designated Fund allows you to name one or more organizations to receive on-going support.

We will send regular notices of the value of the fund to your chosen charitable organizations, and send them the income, so long as they continue to carry out their stated charitable purpose. If your designated organization(s) changes so that they no longer serve your intended purpose, or they cease to exist, the Foundation will fulfill your original design by redirecting the income to a purpose as close as possible to your original cause.

The chart below explains the administrative fees applicable to various types of funds. The administrative fees are calculated on the principal balance of each fund and are charged directly to the fund. They cover the services provided by the Foundation's staff and other administrative costs. Since the fees are spread over a substantial asset base, the fees to any one fund are modest. The Foundation takes pride in the fact that its administrative fees are among the lowest of all community foundations.

In addition to the administrative fees, the Foundation incurs investment-related fees, which are netted out of investment results before fund balances are reported to the donor. The full costs of the Foundation’s investment-related activities on an annual basis generally range from 85 to 90 basis points of the endowment portfolio average market value. The cost of the services of the professional investment managers retained by the Foundation represents approximately 65 to 75 of the total basis points. The remaining costs covered by these fees are the costs of custody of the assets, investment consulting services, and the administrative fees of the Trustee (if applicable to a given fund).

For more information, please contact Lori Rabb, vice president for philanthropic services, at 860-548-1188 x1028 or lrabb@hfpg.org.

Administrative Fees

(effective January 1, 2010)
¹ A basis point is one one hundredth of 1% (.01%).