Establish a Fund

Donor-Designated Funds Support Your Mission and Ours

A donor-designated fund or scholarship at Barberton Community Foundation allows you to turn your personal values into lasting support for the community. Creating a perpetual fund allows your charitable giving to continue making an impact year after year.

This may be right for you if you:

  • Want to support causes in Barberton for years to come

  • Would like to honor or remember a loved one

  • Want your family to stay involved in charitable giving

  • Have recently received an inheritance or sold a business or property

  • Are looking for a structured way to give back to your community that may also offer meaningful tax advantages

Funds can be created in your own name, the name of a loved one, in memory of someone whose life you want to honor, or for a specific purpose. For many donors, creating this kind of fund is a way to extend their values and a meaningful way to remember someone important.

Once established, your fund becomes a permanent source of charitable support for the causes you care about most.

Begin with what matters to you


Creating a fund begins with a conversation. When you contact the Foundation, we start by talking about what you care most about, whether that's education, neighborhood development, the arts, or some other community need. 

From there, we work with you to identify the most effective way to move forward within the Foundation’s structure, and then translate your goals into a permanent legal agreement that guides how your fund will be used for years to come.

Opportunity to Stay Involved

Many donors choose to stay connected to their fund’s work. A fund representative, often the donor or a family member, can serve on the committee that recommends grants from the fund. While the Foundation board serves as the legal fiduciary responsible for final grant approvals, fund representatives help ensure the grants reflect the donor’s intent.

For many people, participating in directing charitable dollars toward meaningful community work is one of the most rewarding aspects of creating a fund.

Flexible ways to start a fund

As with our own endowment, donor-designated funds follow the “Get, Grow, Give” strategy. Based on the current investing environment, it takes about $31,000 of endowment to generate an annual gift of $1,000. But you can set up a fund with any amount of at least $5,000 – which we will nurture until it has grown to allow an annual award of at least $1,000 without touching the original donation.

The Foundation is able to create new funds with donations of:

  • Cash

  • Stock or securities

  • Real estate

  • Property such as vehicles, boats or land

Establishing a fund may also provide tax advantages. As a community foundation, we aren’t able to provide legal or tax advice. But we will help you understand the considerations, and will work hand-in-hand with your own financial and legal advisors to assure your financial needs are understood and achieved.

Types of donor-designated funds 

Getting started

Starting a fund is simple. Contact the Barberton Community Foundation and begin a conversation about what you care about most. The Foundation team will guide you through the process and help create a fund that reflects your goals while supporting Barberton’s long‑term community needs.