Stonewall Foundation - Private Foundation Services

Stonewall Community Foundation provides a number of philanthropic services that have proven to be of benefit to private and corporate foundations.

Grantmaking Services for Private Foundations

A private foundation may have ambitious grantmaking plans but a small or non-existent staff to execute them. In these situations, trustees rely heavily on the volunteer time of board members. By tapping into our philanthropic services and in-depth knowledge of LGBT issues, we can help you to identify important needs in the LGBT community and achieve the impact you originally envisioned.

Using a Private Foundation’s Income to Create a Fund at Stonewall

On occasion, as a private foundation, you may have difficulty deciding among your trustees on a sufficient number of grants to meet the 5% payout requirement or, perhaps, you are looking to create a large pool of money for a future project but still need to meet your 5% payout obligation. A solution is to create a fund at Stonewall Community Foundation. The private foundation’s contribution to Stonewall is a “qualifying distribution” that counts towards the payout requirement. You can now take your time to deliberate appropriately on the grants to be recommended and you gain the added benefit of our grantmaking services.

Terminating a Private Foundation

Section 507 of the Internal Revenue Code permits termination of a private foundation in either trust or corporate form and distribution of its assets to a public charity. Stonewall Community Foundation qualifies as a public charity into which a private foundation may distribute all of its assets. Such a termination not only releases the private foundation from the reporting requirements of the Code, but also terminates the payment of the excise tax imposed on private foundations.

Stonewall Community Foundation vs. A Private Foundation

Below is a comparison between setting up your own private foundation and opening a fund at Stonewall Community Foundation.

	Private Foundation	Stonewall Community Foundation
Set-up Procedure and costs	Must incorporate and apply to IRS for tax-exempt status, both of which incur legal and accounting fees	Simple agreement; No start-up fees or costs
Tax treatment of contributions	Current year tax benefits are limited to 30% of income for cash gifts, and 20% of income for appreciated property gifts.	Current year tax benefits are 50% of income for cash gifts and 30% of income for appreciated property gifts.
Excise Tax	2% of net investment income annually	No tax
Grant Payout	Required to distribute 5% of assets annually to avoid penalty taxes	No payout requirement; can accumulate income for a sizable project or grant.
Audit, accounting and tax returns	Must perform financial and administrative services, or contract or hire staff; annual 990-PF tax return required.	Stonewall handles ALL financial and administrative management, files annual tax return and provides an annual independent audit.
Board of Directors/ Liability	Must establish your own Board of Directors. Any director's and officers liability insurance must be purchased.	Automatically covered by Stonewall's liability insurance.
Grant Management	Must verify the charitable status of all recipient organizations.	Stonewall verifies charitable status of all recipient organizations. As a donor you have access to Foundations strategic grantmaking services and staff.
Privacy	Required to file tax returns on grants, investment fees, staff salaries, etc. These are public records and are compiled into grant seeker directories	Individual donors or grants can be kept private. If you wish, Stonewall can serve as a buffer between you and grant seekers.



	Did you know that Stonewall's philanthropic services are used to assist private donors and organizations in making more than $1million in grants anually.