Giving Tools

A major reason the Foundation exists is to help people make donations to nonprofits in the ways that best achieve their charitable goals and maximize their tax savings. To achieve this goal, the Foundation offers an array of fund types and giving tools. Frankly, the list can seem a little overwhelming! So we encourage you to simply contact us and schedule a time to talk it through with our staff. But if you’d prefer to explore more before meeting with us, you can find the details on this page.

As explained below, these giving tools fall into three categories:

  1. A Fund that you create at the Foundation. A “Fund” is basically an account that you set up at the Foundation and donate money or assets into. The Fund will then make the specific type(s) of grants and scholarships that you want. There are many types of Funds.
  2. A Fund that already exists. You can donate into a Fund that is already supporting the community in the way that you want to support the community.
  3. “Split-interest vehicles,” which are charitable remainder trusts, charitable lead trusts, and charitable gift annuities.
Professional Advisors Fund Advisor Portal

To learn more about using one of these giving tools, contact us at 509-529-4371 or email us here.

“Fund” facts!

Funds can be permanent (exist forever) or exist for a certain time-frame. Funds can support specific nonprofits or “whatever your town needs most.” A Scholarship Fund can provide a scholarship for a student going to any type of post-secondary education, including apprenticeships and other technical programs.

Types of Funds

Below are sections of information that explain the types of Funds that can be established at the Foundation. Click on the arrow or empty space next to a headline to open or close that section. The information below is not exhaustive. Please contact us if you don’t see the information you are looking for or have questions!

An Agency Fund is a Fund created by a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization itself rather than by a person who wants to support a 501(c)(3) organization. With an Agency Fund, the nonprofit contributes its own money to the Fund. Over 60 different local nonprofits have Agency Funds at Blue Mountain Community Foundation.

Why would a nonprofit do this? There are many benefits. The two benefits of most importance to most nonprofits are (1) obtaining higher quality investment management of their assets at potentially a lower fee than is possible on their own and (2) leaving it to the Community Foundation to do what it does well – manage the investments – so that the nonprofit’s Board and staff members can focus on what they do best – implement the nonprofit’s programs. The document you can download here provides a full list of potential benefits of an Agency Fund.

A nonprofit can set up its Agency Fund as an endowment fund, a capital facilities reserve fund, or an operational reserve fund. The organization can choose to receive annual distributions from the Fund or receive distributions as needed.

A Designated Fund is a Fund created and funded by an individual (or individuals) to provide ongoing support for one or more nonprofit 501(c)(3) organizations. The donor creates the Fund and “designates” which nonprofit(s) benefit from the Fund. The organizations you choose receive annual grants from the Fund without the need to submit grant proposals or reports, unless you request otherwise. If endowed, the grants will continue forever.

You, your family, and others may continue to add to the Fund at any time, helping grow your charitable legacy for future generations.

BMCF works closely with local nonprofits and stays connected to the work they do across our region. When setting up a new Fund, we’ll discuss your wishes for the future, including what should happen if a designated organization no longer exists or its mission changes over time. This helps ensure your charitable intent is honored forever.

A Discretionary Fund is a Fund created and funded by an individual (or individuals) to provide flexible support to address changing local needs. Grants from these funds are awarded annually through BMCF’s community grantmaking program to qualified nonprofit organizations working to strengthen our communities.

When you establish a Discretionary Fund, you entrust BMCF’s Board, volunteer Grant Committees, and staff to direct your gift where it can help address the region’s most pressing needs and opportunities.

You can donate to the existing Blue Mountains Forever Fund or donate to a new Fund named after you or whatever you’d like to name it. These Funds are usually endowed, which means they will make grants to nonprofits each year forever.

A Field of Interest Fund is a Fund created and funded by an individual (or individuals) to provide support to the causes you care about most without naming a specific nonprofit organization. You choose the area of interest – such as education, the arts, health, the environment, or helping children and families –  or the geographic area – such as Walla Walla, Garfield, Columbia, or Umatilla County – and BMCF annually identifies the organizations and programs that receive the grants.

As community needs change, your Fund remains flexible. BMCF’s deep knowledge of the region and strong relationships with local nonprofits ensure that grants are directed to opportunities that support your interests and address the community’s most pressing needs.

You can donate to an existing Fund – such as the Walla Walla Forever Fund, Columbia County Forever Fund, Garfield County Forever Fund, or Milton-Freewater Athena Weston Forever Fund – or donate to a new Fund named after you or whatever you’d like to name it. These Funds are usually endowed, which means they will make grants to nonprofits each year forever.

If you’re passionate about education, a Scholarship Fund is a great way to help students pursue their goals and create opportunities for future generations. Scholarships can support students at any stage of their educational journey – be it a high school senior heading to college, a sophomore already at university, or a middle-aged adult going back to school at a community college to obtain a technical certificate – and be directed to students from a specific community, pursuing a chosen field of study, or attending a particular school.

BMCF administers all Scholarship Funds in accordance with applicable tax laws. We will help you develop scholarship criteria, promote scholarship opportunities, manage the application process, and oversee scholarship awards.

The minimum investment to open a new endowed scholarship Fund is $25,000.

Sustaining Endowment Funds are Funds that support Blue Mountain Community Foundation itself by making grants to support BMCF’s core operations each year. Gifts support the behind-the-scenes work that makes lasting philanthropy possible, helping BMCF connect generous people with community needs and create positive change throughout the Blue Mountain region for years to come.

Have you ever thought about having your own Foundation or Family Foundation? Would you consider joining Blue Mountain Community Foundation (BMCF) in its grant-making? Do you want to separate your tax planning from investing in your community? Do you want a way to manage your giving across a lifetime, not just year to year?

If you answered “yes” to some or all of the above, a Donor-Advised Fund (DAF) at BMCF could be for you.

These Funds allow you to make grants to charitable organizations anywhere in the country, or the world, addressing the issues and needs they care about most.

Frequently Asked Questions

You can give lots of things. The easiest gifts come from cash and securities, such as stocks of public companies. The Foundation can accept other gifts as well, but reserves the right to review certain gifts before accepting them. Examples of these types of gifts include real estate, ownership in private companies, and personal property, such as art.

When you make a gift to your donor-advised fund, you complete a charitable contribution to BMCF. In terms of tax treatment and legal matters, you have completed a gift and receive your tax deduction. Then your Fund holds the money until you are ready to make grants from it. You make grants by “advising” or recommending what grants you’d like your Fund to make. BMCF staff then do the work of reviewing your requests to make sure that the grant can be made legally. We call this making a grant.

You can make as many grants as you’d like, of whatever amounts you’d like, at whatever time you’d like. There is no fee for making grants.

You can do it online through our Fund Advisor Portal. Or you can text, email, or call the Foundation staff member who is works with you on your Fund.

To get started, contact the BMCF staff member whom you know or contact us at bmcf@bluemountainfoundation.org or 509-529-4371. We’ll ask you for the information that we need to complete a Fund Agreement that personalizes your Fund for you, including choosing the name for your Fund, such as the “Mary Smith Foundation.” Once you’ve signed the Fund Agreement, your Fund will be opened immediately. This process can be completed in a day or two if you’re in a hurry. There is no set-up fee for creating a Fund.


Then you donate assets to your Fund. You can donate any type of asset. From a tax perspective, the best assets to donate are highly-appreciated stock, bonds, or other securities or real estate. But you can donate any type of asset, including cash or with a credit card. If you want your Fund’s assets to be invested, you must start the Fund with an initial gift of $10,000 or more.

BMCF will manage the investment of your Fund’s assets. You can choose from different investment pools. You can recommend that the Foundation use an investment manager of your choice.

Put assets in a trust that gives you a tax deduction now, pays out money to you or your children each year for your and/or their lives, and then gives the remainder to charity. BMCF will take care of all of the assets for you, including drafting the Trust Agreement, facilitating your donation to the Trust, acting as the Trustee, and making payments to you, your children, or whomever you name before the assets eventually go into a charitable fund that you create, such as your Family Foundation.

If you (1) have highly-appreciated assets such as stock or real estate, (2) know that you want to leave a substantial bequest to nonprofits through your estate, and (3) have plenty of other assets to care for yourself in your later life if you have any sort of unexpected medical needs, then a Charitable Remainder Trust could be an immensely beneficial tool for you. You can avoid capital gains taxes on your appreciated asset, receive a large tax deduction now that you can use to offset taxes for up to 6 years, receive guaranteed annual income for the rest of your life (and your children as well, after you pass away, if you’d like), and know that eventually your Foundation or Fund will receive assets that will exist forever to support your community or your favorite causes after you’ve passed away.

There are many, many ways to customize these types of Trusts to fit your particular needs, or the needs of supporting your children. If it feels like there is a chance that one of these Trusts might be useful to you, don’t hesitate to contact the Foundation. We will talk it through with you and help you decide if it makes sense for you or not. You can see real-life examples of how people have used these Trusts by opening this document here.

With a Charitable Lead Trust, you donate assets to the Trust now, the Trust makes an annual donation to the nonprofit of your choice (which could be your Fund or Foundation at BMCF) for up to 20 years, and then the assets return to you or, if you’d like, to your children (or others). The tax benefits of these types of Trusts are complicated and only beneficial for people with certain types of assets in certain situations. Please contact BMCF’s staff if you want to learn more about these types of Trusts.

A Charitable Gift Annuity works very similarly to a particular type of Charitable Remainder Trust. If you are interested in a Charitable Gift Annuity, please contact BMCF’s staff to discuss how it functions and how it differs from a Charitable Remainder Trust.