Giving Through the Greater Cedar Rapids Foundation
MAHP IN A MINUTE
Volume 2, Number 13: May 16th, 1997
Helping to enrich the lives of all Cedar Rapids and neighboring communities is the purpose of the Greater Cedar Rapids Foundation. GCRF, established in 1949 as a private foundation, became a public institution in 1987, empowered to act as stewards of, and fiduciaries for charitable donations, legacies and bequests made to promote the betterment of the Cedar Rapids/Linn County area.
Among 97 separate endowment funds maintained by the GCRF is the MAHP Cedar Rapids Housing Development Fund, established to provide capital assistance for advancing MAHP’s mission of low and middle income housing development in our community.
Institutions such as MAHP must meet high standards of integrity before qualifying for GCRF endowment funds. GCRF carefully evaluates the program and its principals, and requires strict accounting of how endowment disbursements are spent. Donors can give with confidence that their resources will be allocated responsibly and in accordance with their intentions.
Donations need not be simple outright cash bequests; a benefactor’s resources can be pledged in multiple ways to advance whatever need or cause the donor deems most worthy of support.
For example, appreciated securities on real estate can be donated, yielding no tax on capital gains while gaining the full value of the donation as a charitable contribution. A GCRF endowment can be named as beneficiary of a life insurance policy, possibly significantly magnifying the contribution a donor would otherwise be able to make and allowing deductibility of the value of the policy and future premiums. Memorial giving honors the spirit and memory of a departed loved one while leaving an enduring resource for future generations.
Several other vehicles for giving are possible, including donation strategies like a charitable gift annuity (the donor purchases a gift annuity from the Foundation, receives income during their lifetime, and directs that after their death the remainder will be used to establish an endowed fund). The possibilities, while not infinite, exceed our ability to adequately describe them on a single page. Remember that if you have any inclination toward charitable giving, the GCRF and its staff of estate and investment professionals are eager to assist. Contact Martha Bentley or David Roosevelt at the GCRF, 366-2862.
While we’d obviously like to encourage contributions to our MAHP Cedar Rapids Housing Development fund, we strongly support the civic goals and philosophy the Greater Cedar Rapids Foundation embodies. No matter what your level of participation, you can leave a lasting legacy of enduring consequence for our community.