Types of Funds

The Cape Cod Foundation partners with a variety of donors who share a common interest: supporting all that is good about Cape Cod. Individuals, family members, businesses, nonprofit organizations—and even other foundations—can create charitable funds with a variety of assets at the Foundation. The process is relatively simple.  The Foundation team assumes all investment, administrative, and tax reporting activities, eliminating the need for you to set up a separate foundation. 

To accommodate the diverse interests and needs of donors, the Foundation offers six types of charitable funds. The type of fund you establish depends largely on your charitable goals, interests, and the level of involvement you want to commit. We’ve included an overview of fund types below.  You’ll also find additional, helpful information on our Donor Resources page.

We recommend scheduling a meeting so that we can help you create a Strategic Philanthropic Plan that reflects your financial and charitable needs and objectives.  We also encourage you to include family members in the planning process when appropriate and to seek the advice of trusted financial advisors and estate planners to help provide clarity, demystify the process, and tailor strategies that give you financial security and meet familial obligations.

Unrestricted Funds

Unrestricted funds are ideal for donors with broad interests who would like to meet the most urgent needs of the community from year to year. This fund allows the Foundation full discretion to distribute the income from your fund where it will have the greatest impact on Cape Cod and continue to meet community needs as they change over time.  The Foundation can also pool resources from multiple funds to expand impact.

Donor-Advised Funds

If you want to have an active role in your philanthropy, a donor-advised fund gives you the opportunity to make grant recommendations to any eligible nonprofit organizations.  The Foundation team can help inform your Strategic Philanthropic Strategy by updating you on current community needs, challenges, and resources.  You will also have opportunities to collaborate with other donors to maximize impact.

Field-of-Interest Funds

If you want to support a specific interest, such as education, the arts, or environmental conservation, a field-of -interest fund will achieve your goals.  This fund allows the Foundation full discretion to distribute annual grants from the fund where it will have the greatest impact in the field of interest specified and continue to meet community needs as they change over time.  The Foundation can also pool resources from multiple funds to expand impact.

Scholarship Funds

We currently offer over 100 scholarships which provide educational opportunities for students of all ages: graduating high school seniors, current college students, and adults planning to pursue degrees, complete certificate programs, or take professional development courses.  See the full list to learn what is currently available. You can donate to most of these existing funds, including 
THE CAPE Cod Foundation Scholarship, which has broad eligibility requirements and offers larger, multi-year awards for local students to help ensure they can finance their education through graduation.