a long brightly colored banner shows the text YOUR ENDOWMENT YOUR PASSION YOUR PASADENA and supporting text about the benefits of starting an endowment with PCF.

Endowments

Pasadena Community Foundation (PCF) invites those who care about the greater Pasadena area to create a legacy for the future with a named endowment. Endowments support PCF’s local grantmaking for causes you care about and become a powerful and sustainable tool to changes lives locally. They are truly the gift that keeps on giving.

An endowed fund (also referred to as an endowment) preserves and grows charitable assets in order to support a cause, organization, or scholarship in perpetuity. Gifts made to an endowed fund form the “corpus,” which is not donated, but instead invested for long-term growth. An endowment fund yields interest, and that interest is donated to the designated nonprofit recipient, creating a permanent and ever-increasing source of financial support.

Create a named endowment to support your favorite cause, memorialize a loved one, mark a lifetime milestone, or simply pay your good fortune forward.

Choose What Your Endowment Will Benefit

Be a PCF Endowment Builder and support PCF’s broad grantmaking throughout the greater Pasadena area in six areas of interest: Arts & Culture, Community & Economic Development, Environment & Animal Welfare, Health & Safety, Human Services, and Youth & Education.

It can be Unrestricted, supporting grant making at the Foundation’s discretion, or

Dedicated to a Field of Interest, which allows you to direct your support to one of PCF’s six areas of interest, listed above.

Designate an organization: Designated Charity Funds are endowments that support a specific charity by providing an annual grant to that charity while the corpus is preserved and invested for long-term growth. The donor specifies how funds are to be used and PCF provides ongoing stewardship and oversight to ensure that your intentions are fulfilled.

Create a Scholarship Fund: Scholarship Funds are created to benefit specific educational institutions or reflect the donor’s interest in supporting the aspirations and capabilities of others. The accomplishments of scholarship recipients serve as a tribute to the commitment of the donor. In addition to providing a bright future for young students, scholarship funds can recognize individuals and support treasured values. You can set up a scholarship fund to benefit a specific school or any nonprofit organization. A Scholarship Committee will be appointed to identify the recipient for the scholarship. PCF will manage the annual distribution of funds on your behalf.

Benefits to Creating a Named Endowment

Flexibility

PCF offers different types of funds to help you achieve your philanthropic goals.

Affordable Commitment

$10,000 or $5,000 over two years.

Simplicity

Paperwork is minimal, and once your fund is established, PCF assumes administrative and record-keeping duties.

Tax Benefits

Setting up a charitable fund through PCF gives you maximum tax benefits as the donor.

Tax Filings

All accounting aspects of charitable giving are handled by PCF, including the filing of a tax return for the fund.

Proven Track Record

PCF currently manages more than $160 million in charitable assets.

Example of Endowment Impact & Growth

The power of endowment is made clear with the example of the Cornelia L. Eaton Endowment for Assistance to the Elderly. Cornelia Eaton was one of PCF’s earliest Endowment Builders. She lived in a modest house in Pasadena, which she left to PCF, along with the rest of her estate, upon her death in 1995, a bequest valued at $816,225. She specified that the funds to be used to support charitable organizations that serve Pasadena’s seniors, so PCF created a permanently endowed fund. In 2023, her fund is valued at more than $2 million and has awarded more than $1 million in grants over 25 years.

Please contact Director of Development Liz Algermissen at (626) 796-2097 ext. 105 or ealgermissen@pasadenacf.org with any questions or to request our fund agreement.