Types of Funds

Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts

Types of Funds

Unrestricted
Takes advantage of the Community Foundation’s grantmaking expertise and provides the most flexibility to meet our region’s greatest needs.

Field of Interest
Designates a specific geographic area or a cause to be served (e.g. education, elderly, environment) and uses the competitive grantmaking process to make distributions.

Donor Designated
Designed to provide endowed funds for one or more specific charitable organizations.

Donor Advised
Donors are directly involved and recommend the amount and timing of grants to charitable organizations.

Giving Circles can be supported through our Donor Advised Fund program. To see an example of a Giving Circle in action visit The Art Angels.

Scholarship
Designed to help students defray the cost of higher education. Our Foundation efficiently administers one of the largest community scholarship programs in the nation and makes it easy to grant scholarships to students in the Pioneer Valley. Information about setting up a scholarship fund is available here.

Agency Endowment
Nonprofit organizations establish funds to build their own endowments and take advantage of the Community Foundation's sophisticated investment and other support services.

Agency Advised
Nonprofits are directly involved and recommend the timing and amount of distributions to specific charitable organizations.