Programs

Acorn Accounts | The Living Legacy of McPherson County | Philanthropist of the Year

An Acorn Account with the McPherson County Community Foundation gives a donor an opportunity to build their fund over time rather than having a $10,000 donation upon establishing the fund.

Donors can start their fund with a $100.00 minimum gift then continue to build the fund over an indefinite period of time.

Once the fund reaches $10,000, annual grants from the earnings can be awarded to organizations of the donor’s choice.

Benefits of the account
Named funds give a donor the choice of which organizations receive the annual grants. A named fund offers permanence for a donor’s charitable giving. By maintaining the principal, annual earnings can support community programs for years to come.

The fund offers a donor flexibility by allowing them to choose a general charitable purpose that
can be changed each year.

By pooling contributions with the foundation, management costs are lower than if services were purchased individually.

How does it work?
A donor establishes a fund with a minimum of a $100.00 gift. Each month, quarter or year, the donor continues to contribute to the fund until the minimum $10,000 for grant distributions is met.

Eventually all of a donor’s annual charitable contributions can be made through your fund. For example, a couple that annually donates $1,000 to organizations can work to build a fund of $20,000. Based on a 5% return for gifts, the fund would then be the tool for their $1,000 annual contributions. The couple can then choose to add their annual $1,000 charitable gifts to their fund and increase the grants awarded to organizations.

Donors can develop creative ways to add to their fund. Some suggestions are:

• In lieu of birthday gifts, ask friends and family to donate to the fund.
• Have a monthly contribution automatically transferred to your named fund with MCCF.
• Have a garage sale and give all of the proceeds to your fund.
• Develop/change an estate plan to include the fund with MCCF as a beneficiary.
• The fund value will also increase as the earnings, interest and dividends are attributed to the fund.