Doing your Due Diligence

You’re ready to roll into a new year, and that includes staying involved with the charities you love, whether as a donor, volunteer, board member, or all of the above.

The team at the Community Foundation is here to support your charitable endeavors, no matter where your passions lie. Our region is full of charitable organizations that are doing amazing work to improve the quality of life for everyone. Indeed, across the country, there are hundreds of thousands of charities making a difference every single day.

Occasionally, you may be asked by a friend or colleague to donate to a charity you’re not too familiar with, or perhaps a charity that’s not been around very long asks you for financial support. Please reach out to our team with your questions. We are happy to help you gather the information you need to be confident in your gifts to any organization, large or small, new or well-established. 

The overwhelming majority of charities are above board, ethical, governed by top-notch board members, and run by highly-qualified professionals. Unfortunately, though, every once in a rare while, there are instances when a charity might not dot all the i’s and cross all the t’s. Although very infrequent, it’s still worth considering leaning on the Community Foundation to help you with due diligence for a few reasons: 

• You’ll want to protect your reputation against damage if you were to wind up supporting a charity that later becomes tainted by a scandal.
• You’ll want to validate that the charity is not facing significant or unusual legal or financial risks. 
• You’ll want to avoid scams, which, unfortunately, are on the rise. 

A big perk of organizing your giving through a fund at the Community Foundation is that our team always has its finger on the pulse of what’s going on with charitable organizations in our community. We can research the status of longstanding organizations, check into a brand new organization, and everything in between. Our goal is to help ensure that your charitable contributions have the greatest possible impact. We look forward to hearing from you! 

The team at the Community Foundation is honored to serve as a resource and sounding board as you build your charitable plans and pursue your philanthropic objectives for making a difference in the community. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not intended as legal, accounting, or financial planning advice. Please consult your tax or legal advisor to learn how this information might apply to your own situation.