Many community-minded individuals have served on the boards of directors of charitable organizations in our region. If you’ve served on a charity’s board (or several!), you are no doubt familiar with the concept of an endowment. Many charities establish endowment funds and reserve funds at the community foundation to help ensure that their missions stay strong during economic downturns and periods of increased community need.

What you might be less familiar with, however, is an endowment fund established at the community foundation by an individual or family. Every year, the team at the community foundation works with people like you to establish endowment funds to support the needs of our region in perpetuity.

Here are answers to five frequently-asked questions about setting up an endowment fund.

Why does the community foundation offer endowment funds to individuals and families?

The community foundation serves as the hub of philanthropy for many individuals and families in our community. We connect donors like you to community needs you care about, and this includes offering the opportunity to make a charitable investment that supports a range of community needs now and in the decades ahead–needs that cannot be predicted. That’s the purpose of an endowment: to provide a steady stream of dollars, far into the future, to meet community needs as they arise.

How does an “endowment” work?

“Endowment” is the word often used to refer to a designated pool of assets that are invested by the community foundation and tracked separately such that a modest portion (usually based on a percentage) of the assets are distributed each year to charitable causes, and the rest of the assets remain invested to grow in perpetuity. This growth, in turn, helps the endowment provide even more support each year to the causes for which it was established. The community foundation team is experienced at managing the accounting, investment, and distribution aspects of endowment funds.

How can I stay involved with my endowment fund after it’s established?

First and foremost, you can name the endowment fund anything you want, such as the “Smith Family Endowment Fund,” or something more anonymous such as the “Endowment Fund for Our Future.” In addition, our team is happy to keep you informed about the positive change in the community that is occurring thanks to the distributions from the endowment fund you’ve established. We can continue to keep your children and grandchildren informed, too, beyond your lifetime. In this way, your legacy continues through the generations.

Who decides where the endowment distributions go each year?

The community foundation is itself a permanent institution. Our board and staff are committed to keeping a finger on the pulse of the region’s greatest needs and maintaining a deep knowledge of the charitable organizations that are meeting these needs every day. This is the community foundation’s mission in perpetuity. The community foundation’s team is made up of dedicated and knowledgeable professionals who understand our community and build ongoing personal relationships with the people working at the region’s charitable organizations. The community foundation team recommends distributions from your endowment, and our independent board of directors reviews and approves these distributions to ensure that they fulfill your charitable goals for establishing the endowment in the first place.

What does it take to establish an endowment fund?

Setting up an endowment fund is as easy as setting up any other type of fund at the community foundation. Our team will prepare simple paperwork capturing the name of the endowment fund and any areas of interest you’d like to support. Then, you can transfer cash—or, even better for tax purposes, you can transfer appreciated assets such as stock or real estate. You’ll be eligible for a charitable tax deduction in the year you make the transfer to establish the fund. You can make future transfers to your endowment fund each year, too, to achieve your tax and estate planning goals. Our team is also happy to work with you and your advisors to structure a bequest to your endowment fund following your death. We highly recommend considering a bequest in the form of a beneficiary designation on an IRA because of the multiple tax benefits. Related, if you are over 70 ½, making a “Qualified Charitable Distribution” from your IRA directly to your endowment fund is a very effective charitable planning tool to avoid income tax and also satisfy your Required Minimum Distribution if you’ve reached that age as well.

We look forward to working with you to support our community and your favorite charitable causes for generations to come!

At the community foundation, we are honored to work with generous individuals and families like so many of you who’ve established, or contribute to, funds to support the causes you care about and the needs of our community both now and in the future. We’re also inspired by those of you who are getting to know the community foundation and considering establishing a donor-advised or other type of fund.

Wherever you are in the stages of your philanthropic planning, the team at the community foundation is here for you and considers our relationship to be personal. That’s why we welcome the opportunity to meet with our fund holders and prospective fund holders. Here are a few insights into what those meetings are all about.

You can expect personal, dedicated service. Unlike financial institutions’ donor-advised fund platforms where access to a dedicated donor services team can be rare, the staff at the local community foundation is here to help you every step of the way along your charitable giving journey. Our team is happy to meet with you one-on-one, and we are also happy to join a meeting with you and your legal, tax, or financial advisor to assess your current situation and determine the best charitable tax strategy for you. This includes evaluating the best assets to give to your fund or funds at the community foundation, including publicly-traded stock and even other noncash assets such as real estate or closely-held stock.

We care about your intentions for your fund. The team at the community foundation wants to understand the areas of interest that are a priority for you, whether that’s the arts, health care, social services, the environment, education, community development, or something else. We also want to understand the role you envision for the successor advisors you’ve named in the fund documentation, such as your children, who will make decisions about the fund when you are no longer living or able to manage the fund yourself.

We will help you establish additional funds to meet your goals. Sometimes when the team at the community foundation is working with a fund holder to understand the intentions for a donor-advised fund, we discover that it’s worth adding one or more additional funds to complement the donor-advised fund structure already in place. For example, some fund holders decide to also establish a designated fund for a particular nonprofit organization or an unrestricted fund to support the community foundation’s mission in perpetuity. Many times, fund holders decide to make recurring contributions over time to multiple funds at the community foundation to achieve their various philanthropy goals.

We make the paperwork a breeze. As you know if you’ve already established a fund at the community foundation, the paperwork is straightforward and not at all cumbersome. As we’re exploring updating your existing fund, setting up a new fund, or adding additional types of funds to your portfolio, we’ll prepare simple documentation to capture your wishes, collect important contact information, and address your vision for your fund or funds both during and after your lifetime.

We’re always here to strategize about your giving options. As you periodically review your assets and financial situation with your advisors, keep an eye out for appreciated assets that could be ideal to give to your fund or funds at the community foundation because of the potential capital gains tax savings. The community foundation can work with you and your advisors on contributions of a wide variety of assets to help you achieve your tax and estate planning goals. We are happy to go over the appraisal and documentation requirements for gifts of nonmarketable assets such as closely-held stock and real estate.

We’ll let you know about educational opportunities and gatherings with other fund holders. During our meeting, we’ll share a calendar of upcoming events and ways you can learn more about the causes you care about and what’s going on in the community overall. Our team is here to help you stay up-to-date on the various ways you can support the community by working with the community foundation and partnering with other fund holders.

Thank you for your commitment to philanthropy! If you’re already a fund holder, we are grateful that you’ve made the choice to organize your giving by working with the community foundation. If you’re considering getting started, we look forward to continuing the conversation! In either case, we look forward to seeing you soon!

Simplicity, efficiency, and effectiveness have long been cornerstones of working with the community foundation to carry out charitable goals. Time and time again at the community foundation, we see how easily donors who’ve established a donor-advised or other type of fund are able to not only fulfill their big-picture charitable goals, but to act quickly to respond to critical needs in the community as they occur..

Indeed, the flexibility of working with the community foundation allows you to support the causes you love at a financial level that meets your charitable giving budget. Early in the year, many of our fund holders transfer highly-appreciated stock to their donor-advised fund, for example, at the community foundation so that they are prepared to activate their annual giving right away.

At every level of giving, philanthropy is a catalyst for improving quality of life. Indeed, anyone with a willingness to give can be a philanthropist. Whether you’re using your donor-advised fund to give $250 to a college or university, $2500 to a food bank, or $25,000 to an art museum’s endowment, you’re making a difference.

Consider that small donations from a large number of people can make a huge difference. This is especially true for responses to disasters and humanitarian tragedies. On the other end of the spectrum, very large donations to an organization can transform its ability to scale and serve a much greater population.

In so many ways, whether gifts are large or small or somewhere in between, philanthropy creates the margin of excellence that helps communities, families, and individuals thrive. The team at the community foundation is here to help you achieve satisfaction and impact with your giving at any level.

The Hardy County Community Foundation is pleased to welcome the addition of the Vernon and Myrtle Webster Scholarship Fund.

Myrtle Webster established the Vernon Webster Scholarship shortly after Vernon’s death in 1980. After the death of Myrtle in 2009, their three children, Vernon, Buddy, and Annabelle, added to it and changed the name to the Vernon and Myrtle Webster Scholarship.  The scholarship has been administered by the Hardy County Board of Education, but was recently transferred to the Hardy County Community Foundation where it will continue to honor the legacy of two exceptional individuals who valued and supported education.

Vernon Webster was born in 1910 near Wardensville, WV, the oldest of three sons whose father died when he was twelve years old. Myrtle (Shockey) Webster was born in 1917 near Moorefield, into a family of 8 brothers and sisters.

Vernon operated a saw mill for a while then drove a truck for Rockingham Poultry for several years while Myrtle owned and managed a restaurant in the 1950’s. They eventually decided to open a television, appliance, and furniture store known as VW Webster Furniture and Appliances until they retired. Myrtle clerked the store and Webster did the deliveries and television and appliance repair. They were members of Duffy Memorial United Methodist Church in Moorefield. Vernon was a long-time member of the Moorefield Lions Club and served on the Moorefield Town Council.

Both Vernon and Myrtle had only eighth-grade educations, and while they still achieved great success as a result of their initiative, perseverance, and hard work, they always saw the value of a good education. They staunchly supported funding initiatives for the local school system and were strong supporters of higher education. Nearly all their descendants and their spouses have acquired or are pursuing college degrees.

The Webster’s interest in supporting education grew out of attending their children’s sporting events at Moorefield High School.  Vernon and Buddy were active in three sports and Annabelle was a cheerleader.

Myrtle had a great love of high school basketball and attended games into her late 80’s. Over the decades she watched her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren play. She also grew to know many of the other players and their parents.

As Myrtle watched the students play, she took an interest in their futures and always enjoyed hearing about them becoming successful adults and reaching their full potential. She wanted to help others further their education and believed in rewarding academic excellence and community involvement. A scholarship seemed like a great way to achieve both. Vernon and Myrtle’s commitment to education has benefitted Moorefield High School seniors for over 40 years, and will continue to do so another 40 years and beyond.

The Hardy County Community Foundation is currently accepting applications for scholarships, including the Vernon and Myrtle Webster Scholarship, now through 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, February 28th for the 2024-25 school year. Moorefield and East Hardy high school seniors scheduled to graduate this spring are invited to apply using an online application which may accessed online at: https://ewvcf.awardspring.com