Founded in 2014, the Freshwater Coast Community Foundation is the community’s permanent endowment, enabling donors from all walks of life to improve the communities they care about through current and future charitable giving. We serve as the trusted charitable advisor to individuals, families, and businesses that want to help others through effective and efficient charitable giving.

A community foundation is a collection of funds established by a wide range of donors. Each fund is a reflection of the charitable interests of the donor. Community foundations make grants to nonprofit organizations from these funds to support the work of those charitable organizations in accordance with the donor’s wishes and intent. There are more than 770 community foundations across the United States.

The Foundation works with a wide variety of individuals, families, businesses and nonprofit organizations. Our donors include retirees, business owners, teachers, executives, attorneys, and medical professionals, to name a few. We work with donors who live in the communities within our service area, and donors whose roots are in our communities.

Your client can give to the causes he or she cares about by partnering with the Freshwater Coast Community Foundation. By creating a unique charitable fund, donors are able to make a grant to any nonprofit 501(c)(3) charitable organizations located within our service area, within the State of South Carolina or across the nation.

FCCF offers a wider variety of charitable funds and more giving options than those commercial gift funds. Also, FCCF has a local, professional staff that can provide personalized service and assistance in the areas of giving and grantmaking.

Establishing a fund at the Freshwater Coast Community Foundation is simpler and less expensive than establishing a private foundation. In addition, the ongoing administrative of a private foundation is usually more costly and time consuming than having a fund at FCCF, which handles all administrative details.

Contact Faye Crocker via email at funds@freshwatercoastfoundation.org. She can review the assets for gifting and the fund types that best suit your clients’ charitable interests and financial situation. A client may establish a fund with a gift of $10,000 or more.

We utilize the services of Edward & Jones as custodian of Foundation assets, and the Fund Evaluation Group as consultant to manage Foundation assets with a prudent and balanced investment allocation. As stewards of the community’s endowment, donor’s charitable legacies, and community investments, it is our responsibility to carefully manage these resources.

The Foundation’s administrative fees are 1% of each component fund’s assets. The Foundation’s investment agent also charges fees that vary with the investment firm and the specific investment vehicles used by the investment agent.

The Foundation will work closely with you and your clients to help facilitate planned gifts of all types (including bequests, trusts, charitable trusts, qualified retirement plans, life insurance policies, etc.) through your client’s estate plans. This work may include the development of a letter of intent from the clients to the Foundation detailing how your clients would like the Foundation to use their planned gift when the Foundation receives the gift in the future.

No. The Foundation recommends that donors appoint a qualified bank or trust company or a qualified individual as trustee. Of course, the Foundation welcomes the opportunity to serve as the remainder beneficiary of a charitable remainder trust or the lead beneficiary of a charitable lead trust. We would be delighted to work with you and you clients to develop a letter of intent as to how such planned gifts will be used.

The Freshwater Coast Community Foundation has a unique role and distinct advantage over other charitable choices because of its permanence, flexibility, stewardship role, public accountability, and knowledge of and focus on serving the needs of our local communities. Donors may be assured that our professional staff and dedicated board of community leaders are committed to honor donor intent and ensure that the donor’s wishes are fulfilled long into the future. In addition, your clients may establish one named fund to support several charitable organizations through a current or planned gift and have the peace of mind that their intent is honored in perpetuity.

This information is for educational purposes only and not intended as tax advice. Please consult your legal and tax advisor prior to making any decision.