Giving

The Foundation provides a simple, powerful, and highly personal approach to giving and offers a variety of giving tools to help people achieve their charitable goals and receive maximum charitable tax benefits.

There are many options for giving through the Foundation:

• Support existing Funds
• Create your own Fund
• Join our Legacy Society

Support Existing Funds

Your participation in the annual All Charities Auction Events is vitally important for the entire community and, because charities have given up individual fund-raisers, your one opportunity to come out in support of the causes you care about. Each year the Foundation’s proceeds from the auction events and ORC Charity Check-Off go to the Community Grants Fund supporting a variety of worthy and effective charities on the Reef and in the surrounding communities which are home to our employee base.

Existing Foundation Funds created to address the variety of causes most important to our community include:

• Community Grants Fund
• Courage Fund for Hospice
• Field of Interest Funds supporting:
  • Arts
  • Children
  • Education
  • Environment
  • Health
• Ocean Reef Employee Emergency Fund (O.R.E.E.F)
• Wounded Warriors Fund supporting injured veterans and their families

Create Your Own Fund

The Foundation makes it easy and effective to create a fund in your name, or in the name of your family, your organization, or anyone you wish to honor to support your own charitable goals. All grants distributed from the fund you establish — today and in the future — are then awarded to charities in the name of that fund. It’s a great way to always be involved with, and remembered for, your community investment.

• Establish a fund with cash or appreciated stock
• Receive tax benefits in the year your gift is made
• We handle the administrative details at no fee

Currently all fund administrative fees are underwritten by the Ocean Reef Foundation.

We offer a variety of choices to suit your individual needs:

Donor Advised Funds – Because they provide you with ongoing involvement in the use of your gift, DAFs are a popular option to address the issues and needs you care about most. Your recommendations for grants to any IRS qualified charity are approved by our local board and we handle all details of distributing grant dollars. A key benefit is the ability to time contributions for maximum tax advantage and then distribute grants when you choose.

Unrestricted Funds – Make it possible for your gift to address ever-changing community needs — including future needs that often cannot be anticipated at the time your gift is made. The flexibility of your unrestricted gift enables your community foundation’s program experts to respond to the community’s most pressing needs, today and tomorrow.

Field of Interest Funds – Enable you to target your gift to address needs in an important area of community life. You identify your personal interest area when making your gift; our board awards grants to community organizations and programs that are making a difference in the area you select.

Designated Funds – Allow you to direct your gift to a specific nonprofit organization or purpose and help provide ongoing funding for virtually any nonprofit charitable organization. Nonprofit organizations can use a Designated Fund through the community foundation to build their endowment and enhance their ability to accept large and complex gifts.

In most cases, creating your fund is as simple as filling out a one-page form (download applications from the link above in the sidebar) and funding the account with your choice of check, wire transfer or appreciated securities and our staff is happy to assist.

Join Our Legacy Society

Leaving a legacy is a simple way to make a lasting difference in the lives that follow. The Legacy Society of the Ocean Reef Foundation honors those individuals who plan to leave an indelible mark through a planned gift.

You are already eligible for membership if you have made arrangements in your will or trust, or through another form of deferred giving, for a gift to the Ocean Reef Foundation. With careful planning one can often make a much more substantial gift than previously imagined. Our staff is available to help you best tailor your gift so you can achieve your charitable vision. Options include bequests, Charitable Remainder Trust, Life Insurance and IRA/ Retirement Funds.

Whatever your passion, the Foundation can help you provide perpetual support for the charitable organizations you feel are important. Through the Legacy Society, your generous and thoughtful planning for the future of your community can be recognized during your lifetime and enrich our community forever. Joining can be as simple as declaring your intent. Call or e-mail for a brochure on the program.

Request a Legacy Society Brochure