Corporate Funds

A corporate fund is a donor advised fund created to facilitate corporate philanthropy.

Samsel Architects, P.A. Fund supports many nonprofits including Pisgah Legal Services, pictured above, Mountain BizWorks, Asheville Art Museum, Green Opportunities, MountainTrue, Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy and many more. Photo by Lynne Harty.

What is a corporate fund?

If you own your business, have substantial holdings in closely held stocks or are charged with managing your corporation’s charitable giving, giving through The Community Foundation offers tax advantages, eliminates recordkeeping and administrative hassles and gives your business access to the guidance of our professional staff for both grantmaking and gift planning.

For Business Owners and Managers of Corporate Giving

  • Establish a fund in your company’s name with a donation of $10,000 or more.
  • Donate cash or other business assets. Contributions are tax deductible, and you can make additional donations at any time. Making larger donations in more profitable years helps reduce your dependence on annual cash flow to sustain corporate giving levels.
  • Decide which requests for support to fulfill and recommend those grant recipients.
  • CFWNC handles all administrative paperwork, legal and audit fees and correspondence with grant recipients.
  • Our efficient administration of your giving program means more of your charitable resources are directed into the community.


For Owners of Closely Held Stock

  • Gifts of closely-held stock create the same tax advantages as gifts of other assets: immediate charitable deduction, reduction of estate taxes and avoidance of capital gains.
  • Making a gift of stock rather than of dividends allows you to avoid taxes at both the corporate and shareholder levels. That means more of your stock’s value can be directed to your charitable goals.
  • Although there can be no prearranged agreement at the time of a stock gift, it is likely that CFWNC will be receptive to an offer from company owners should they wish to buy stock back in the future. This is advantageous because the company may be able to avoid penalties on excess profit by using that profit to buy back stock, or the stock can be retired in order to reduce the number of outstanding shares and therefore increase the stock value for other shareholders.
  • A permanent endowment fund is invested to produce tax-free annual income for grants and growth of principal, forming a permanent charitable resource for our region.

Contact our Development Staff about creating a Corporate Fund.