Seed Funds

You can start building the foundation for your charitable giving through a Community Foundation seed fund. Like a charitable savings account, seed funds allow you to grow your charitable dollars over time to build your legacy of giving.

"Because the dollars in our fund are professionally invested, they will continue to grow, so we can do more good. This provides us an opportunity to teach our children the power of investing early for greater charitable impact."

- Sarah & Zac Voss

How Seed Funds Work

Give

To open a seed fund, an initial charitable contribution of $1,000 is made. Each year a minimum contribution of $600 is made until the seed fund grows to $10,000.

Grant

Once your fund reaches $10,000, you can begin making grants from your charitable giving fund to the causes you care about. You will work with our charitable giving experts to determine which of our fund types best meet your giving and financial goals.

Grow

The Community Foundation handles the administrative details of your seed fund so you can instead focus on developing your giving goals. Through unique tax-wise giving opportunities like the Endow Iowa Tax Credit, a 25% state tax credit, and the ability to accept a variety of gift types; the Community Foundation’s team of charitable giving experts can help maximize your giving to grow your seed fund.

Consider a Seed Fund if You:

  • Want to begin developing a strategic approach to giving back.
  • Are interested in learning more about local giving opportunities.
  • Want to involve your family or children in your charitable giving.
  • Seek to manage all of your giving from one convenient charitable giving fund.

Financial Facts

  • A seed fund can be established in any amount and with a variety of asset types. 
  • The ability to combine funds into professionally managed portfolios allows greater diversification of investments and access to investment vehicles that would not be possible for individual funds. 
  • No fees are charged until the fund reaches $10,000. You can monitor your fund’s growth through the Community Foundation’s online fund management system, Manage My Fund.