Client Community Funds
Resources to share with your clients about creating Community Funds via their giving account.
Community Funds are "social DAFs". They are collective giving tools available on your firm's giving platform to enable clients to pool charitable capital for greater impact via a custom-branded webpage.
Your client can contribute to existing Community Funds or create their own Community Fund as a fund manager.
It may be helpful to have awareness of how Community Funds work so you can best support your client as they consider collaborative giving opportunities:
Is your client interested in leading a community fund? Invite them to fill out this request form and our team will contact them to begin the process.
Why clients should start a Community Fund
For clients, Community Funds are a fantastic way to mobilize their community with a tax-deductible fund to seamlessly pool charitable capital and make grants to public charities.
Your clients may be inspired to leverage Community Funds to:
Lead expert grantmaking. Your client can share their expertise for impact with a fund and invite others to back their grantmaking leadership.
Create a donor collaborative. Your client can pool money with other strategic donors to amplify their philanthropic efforts under a different brand or collaborate on grantmaking decision-making.
Influence for impact. If your client has a public audience, they can mobilize their community for good with a custom-branded giving fund.
Inspire their workplaces. If your client leads a company, they can inspire their teams to give together in a fund for a particular cause.
Make meaning amongst groups of friends. Your client can invite friends, family, and community to come together around giving without the admin hassle or awkwardness. Can be as private or public as they'd like.
Commemorate memorials & weddings. Your client can honor and celebrate loved ones at key milestones with a charitable fund others can contribute to.
For more detail on Community Funds, your client can read the information provided in the Charityvest public guide.
Community Fund features
Community Funds on your firm's giving platform include a host of features that help unlock social giving for your clients, such as:
Branded webpage: Community Funds are hosted on Unlisted or Public shareable webpages to collect donations and make grants to charity. This page includes an overview of the fund, key statistics, recipient charities, public supporters, and transaction activity.
Guest checkout: options for donors to make their gifts via their account under your firm's giving program, a Charityvest account, or as a guest via credit / debit card.
Complex asset donations: support for stock, crypto, and other complex asset donations via their account under your firm's giving program or their Charityvest account.
Tax receipts: automated tax receipting for any donation made to the fund.
For more detail on Community Fund features, your client can read the information provided in the Charityvest public guide.
Community Fund setup
For clients, Community Funds were designed to be a simple and seamless way to pool charitable capital via a custom-branded webpage.
The Charityvest team will work with your client 1:1 to create their first fund. Here are the steps to bring their fund to life:
Agree to our Community Fund policies.
Set their preferences for privacy, fees, and more.
Design their fund with a name, tagline, keywords, images, rich text, links, and FAQs.
To learn more about Community Fund setup, your client can follow the instructions provided in the Charityvest public guide.
Privacy Settings
There are currently two main options for privacy on Community Funds:
Unlisted: An unlisted webpage that can be selectively shared with a link. We recommend unlisted funds for closed communities.
Public: A searchable, public webpage that any Charityvest account holder will be able to see and contribute to. We recommend public funds for fund managers looking for external support.
To learn more about Community Fund privacy settings, your client can follow the instructions provided in the Charityvest public guide.
Community Fund donations
To promote a Community Fund, your client can copy the link to their unique webpage or, if the fund is Public, share via social media.
Anyone that has the link to a Community Fund can make a donation, provided the fund settings are configured to Accept contributions. It is possible for your client, other clients participating in your firm's custom giving program, Charityvest users, or guests to donate to a Community Fund.
Donations to a Community Fund are seamless for your firm's clients or Charityvest account holders. The donation checkout flow is similar to the charity grantmaking experience, made via a linked account or existing balance. This transaction will be reflected in the donor's Activity history.
How Community Fund donations from your firm's giving platform or Charityvest accounts differ from grants to charity:
Donations to Community Funds are instant and not reversible.
There is no option to designate donations to Community Funds.
To learn more about donating to a Community Fund from an existing account under your firm's giving program or a Charityvest account, your client can follow the instructions provided in the Charityvest public guide.
Guest donations
Guest donations are possible via credit card or debit card. There are three main ways a guest can make a donation on your client's Community Fund:
One-time card contributions: Guest donors can enter their credit/debit card information and submit their gift instantly. A tax receipt will be emailed to them at the time of donation.
Recurring card contributions: If a guest wishes to make a recurring gift to a Community Fund, they will need to agree to create a Charityvest account to complete the donation checkout process. This allows the donor to manage their recurring gift should they need to make any changes in the future. By claiming their Charityvest account, donors will be able to view, edit, or cancel their recurring gift. They will receive a Welcome email immediately following their donation checkout to complete their account registration.
Other methods of giving: If a donor wishes to donate to a client Community Fund via other giving method, and does not currently have an account under your firm's giving program, or a Charityvest account, it takes seconds for them to get set up and contribute via:
DAF transfer
ACH or wire transfer
Check
Stock or cryptocurrency
Company match
For more information on guest donations to a Community Fund, your client can follow the instructions provided in the Charityvest public guide.
Community Fund grantmaking
Clients who create a Community Fund will have the ability to make grantmaking decisions on behalf of their fund.
Your client can select one or more of the 1.4 million+ eligible 501c3 charities as grant recipients for their Community Fund. They can distribute any portion of the balance of their fund at their discretion, by following the instructions provided in the Charityvest public guide.
Community Fund fees
There are currently two main options for pricing on Community Funds:
Allow optional gifts to Charityvest: tip-based pricing model, where all donors will be asked to make an additional contribution to Charityvest during the checkout process. We recommend this option for fund managers that prioritize minimal overhead, as the default donation amount is 0%. It is entirely up to the donor if they wish to add a tip.
Quarterly 1% fee on grants: percentage-based pricing model, where, on a quarterly basis, we will assess a fee of 1% of the total value of grants made to charity, which will be deducted from the Community Fund balance. We recommend this option for clients who prefer to communicate a consistent fee structure to their supporters, and wish to avoid the "ask" at the end of the donation process for donors.
For more detail on Community Fund fees, your client can read the information provided in the Charityvest public guide.
Curious to learn more about your firm's custom DAF program? Contact your firm's program manager for program-related matters or Charityvest (support@charityvest.org) for platform-related matters.
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