The Ashland County Community Foundation is a charitable organization created by and for the community to connect people who care with causes that matter..for the generations to come. Our goal is to improve the quality of life in Ashland County. Our role is to serve as the vehicle through which donors achieve their charitable desires. Read more...

People give through the Foundation, not to it. Many reasons exist for giving. For example, your gift is fully tax-deductible. Your gift will continue to give long after you are gone. Your gift will benefit the organization or purpose you specify. You can honor or memorialize a loved one. You can create a new fund or add to an existing one. All dollars are professionally invested and managed. Read more...

Permanent, donor-designated funds are created not to invade principal. Only dollars available are distributed to the donors' designated income recipients.

Certainly. In addition to scholarships, anyone at any time may make a gift in a loved one's honor or memory. In fact, we receive hundreds of honorary and memorial gifts each year - for birthdays, Christmas, Mother's Day, remembrances at funerals, and so forth. The gift may be of any size and is acknowledged to the individual being honored or to the family of the person being memorialized.

The dollars of the Foundation's hundreds of individual, named funds are pooled for investment purposes - to maximize returns and reduce costs. ACCF's Finance Committee and professional advisors make investment decisions and manage the dollars based on the Board approved Investment Policy.

ACCF staff will help you assess your charitable desires and determine the type of fund to best meet your desires. A $10,000 contribution and signed Instrument of Transfer document will officially establish a new fund at the Foundation. (All donors are welcome to take advantage of our five year pledge period.) With all funds, the donor determines the name of the fund, the charitable organization(s) to receive the distributions, and scholarship eligibility and selection criteria if appropriate. Changes may be made to the fund during the donor's lifetime.

All donors with named funds are sent annually a statement detailing all gifts made to the fund, all investment activity, all grants/scholarships distributed and all administrative expenses paid during the fiscal year. ACCF also informs donors when scholarships/grants are distributed from their funds and forwards any and all correspondence from recipients to the donors. ACCF also holds several events each year - one being an Annual Update - to inform donors of ACCF activity during the year.

Several types of funds are available and can be viewed in more detail by clicking here. A snapshot of our main funds is as follows:

• Donor Designated Fund: The donor names a charity or charities to receive the fund's annual distribution. (Distribution based on Board approved spending policy (not to invade principal.)
• Donor Advised Fund: The donor advises annually as to the charity or charities to receive the fund's annual distribution. (Distribution based on Board approved spending policy.)
• Scholarship Fund: The donor determines eligibility, selection and payment formula criteria from which ACCF administers the scholarship each year.
• Agency Fund: A nonprofit organization establishes this fund in which it receives a quarterly distribution (based on Board approved spending policy) for use as the organization desires - generally operating support.
• Charitable Gift Annuity: This is a special type of fund. ACCF manages charitable gift annuities in which donors receive guaranteed quarterly distributions during their lifetimes; after which, the residual dollars create permanent funds at ACCF for use as designated by the donor.

There are no charges due ACCF in the creation of (or consideration of creating) a fund. The only expenses incurred in having a named fund is an annual administrative fee (paid quarterly). This fee, however, is always deducted from the fund; additional dollars are never required from the donor. ACCF's fee structure is as follows: Agency Funds, 1/2 of 1% of the fund's year-end balance; Donor Designated and Donor Advised Funds: 1% of the fund's year-end balance; Scholarship Funds, 1 1/2% of the fund's year-end balance.

Anyone at any time may donate any dollar amount to the Foundation. Gifts of all sizes are greatly appreciated and will support our community long into the future. For gifts of $1,000 or more, a five-year pledge period is available and tailored to the donor's selected payment schedule.

No. A fund can be created with gifts from several or many people. A lead contact person must be designated, however. Many funds we currently hold were created by "Friends of..." or "Family of..."

ACCF has the following programs from which dollars are available to non-profit organizations, teachers and students:

• Community Grants
• Teacher Mini-Grants
• Women's Fund Grants
• Scholarships
• Hess Educational Loans

Two additional programs to support youth in education and philanthropy also exist:

• Charles F. Kettering Honors Science Camp
• Kids Who Care

ACCF has three grant programs. View the appropriate grant pages on our site to determine the grant program for which you are eligible to apply. All applications are available on our site in writeable PDFs. Feel free to call the ACCF office to discuss your potential proposal.

ACCF has an extensive scholarship program. All scholarships are created by donors and have varying eligibility and selection criteria. View the appropriate scholarship pages on our site to determine the scholarship for which you are eligible to apply. All applications are available on our site in writeable pdfs and are due April 15.

View the Hess Educational Loan page on our site for eligibility and guidelines. The application is available on our site in a writeable pdf and is due June 15.