Fundholder FAQs

Here are four easy ways to make a contribution to your donor advised fund:

1. Check
   You can make a donation to your Donor Advised Fund fund by mailing a check to Truman Heartland Community Foundation, 4200 Little Blue Parkway, Suite 340, Independence, MO 64057. Please include your fund name in the check memo.
2. Credit/Debit Card
   You can donate to your fund online using a credit or debit card. Use this link.
3. Stock Donation
   You can make a donation of securities to your fund by contacting Bridget Stoppelman, Chief Financial Officer, by email at stoppelman@thcf.org or by phone at (816) 795-5307.
4. Planned Gift from Your Estate
   You can designate your fund as a recipient of a gift from your estate. Please contact Cole Eason, Vice President of Advancement, at eason@thcf.org or 816-912-4182 for more information on this option.

Remember: You cannot make a qualified charitable distribution (QCD) from your IRA to a donor advised fund, but you can make it to other funds, such as a scholarship fund or other endowed fund, when the fund’s grant instructions are in place beforehand.

Yes. You can benefit from customized investment management by an advisor you already know and trust. If this option is right for you, simply put THCF in touch with your financial advisor, and our team will take care of the rest! Your fund's investments will be managed through an account we set up with your advisor, investing in accordance with the Community Foundation's most current investment policies and standards.

To ensure that your support lasts forever, you can create an endowment fund. There are several ways to build up your fund to endowment, including contributing cash, appreciated assets, or real estate as part of your planned giving strategy. To maximize your giving, leave a lasting impact, and save on your taxes, speak to your financial advisor or reach out to our Community Foundation staff. They can guide you on how to make the most of your charitable contributions.

No. You can select to invest the assets of your fund in the Community Foundation’s Investment Pool. The responsibility of managing the investments is vested in our Board of Directors through our Investment Committee. The Committee works closely with staff and a professional investment advisor to set policy, establish performance benchmarks, and monitor performance.

Yes. If you select the Community Foundation's Investment Pool, you are able to match your risk tolerance and the long-term objectives for your fund. You can select an existing mix or create your own. The Community Foundation strongly suggests scholarship funds be invested in our Long-Term Recommended Mix.

• Long-Term Recommended Mix
  Recommended for scholarship funds (65% Equity and 35% Fixed Income)
• Risk-Averse Mix
  100% Money Market and CD Pool
• Environmentally Responsible Investment (ERI) Mix
  (65% Equity and 35% Fixed Income, excluding oil and gas investments)
• Create Your Own Mix
  Select your percentages of Money Market, Fixed Income, and Equity Pools to match your fund’s goals and your risk tolerance.

THCF staff can help you identify the types of students that you would like to support with your scholarship fund. Characteristics to consider include:

• Level of education to support (undergraduate, graduate, technical, professional, trade, etc.)
• Field of study
• Geographical area (i.e., high school graduating from, college planning to attend, etc.)
• Academic achievement
• Financial need
• Involvement in extracurricular activities, community service activities, work, clubs, teams, etc.

THCF’s scholarship funds are endowed, so a certain amount is “available to spend” from the endowment fund each year based on our current spending policy (currently 4.5% of the past five years’ year-end fund balances). You can decide the specifics about how you award that available amount each year.

• One-time vs. Renewable awards
  THCF encourages renewable scholarship awards to assist recipients in persisting through their higher education experience to graduation. However, one-time scholarships are also possible through THCF’s scholarship program.
• Scholarship Amount
  THCF encourages larger scholarship award amounts over smaller awards because the costs of higher education have increased exponentially over the past generation. For example, if your scholarship produces $1,000 available to spend each year, we would encourage making one $1,000 award rather than splitting it into two $500 scholarships.

THCF staff works to advertise the availability of our scholarships on our website, in press releases and newsletters, and via personal outreach to high schools and colleges in the area. Applications are built in our online scholarship portal. You can decide which application format works best for your scholarship.

• General Application
  This application is utilized by over 50 of our scholarship funds and streamlines the application process for the students by matching them to any scholarships that correspond with their characteristics while only having to complete the basic application questions, such as their college and field of study once. 

  It is a two-step process for the applicants: completing the general application to be matched to specific scholarships and then completing the customizable portions of each scholarship application they were matched with. These typically include essays on specific prompts, letters of recommendation from specific people in their lives, or proof of participation in specific types of activities relevant to your scholarship. 
  
  The Community Foundation generally encourages utilizing the General Application because it streamlines the application process for students, helps them become eligible for the most scholarship support available to them, and increases candidate pools for the participating scholarships.

• Stand-Alone Application
  This is a standard full scholarship application where the students must complete all questions for each different stand-alone application they wish to apply for (this means filling out their college, field of study, etc., for each and every stand-alone application). Stand-alone applications should be utilized if the donors wish for their scholarship’s due date to be different than the General Application or for a very customized application.

THCF staff will notify the student of being selected for the scholarship and work with them to verify their enrollment prior to paying out an award on their behalf. Scholarships are paid directly to schools and not to students. Scholarships may be utilized for qualified educational expenses as defined by the IRS at their institution (typically tuition, fees, books, supplies, etc.). Scholarships that are not utilized may not be issued to students as refunds and must be returned to the Foundation to be reinvested in the scholarship fund.

We have two great ways for you to get to know your recipients better:

• Annual Scholarship Reception Ice Cream Social
  Typically held in June, this free reception is the chance for you and your recipient(s) to meet and get to know each other over a sweet treat. You will receive invitations, and we ask for RSVPs for the event so we can seat you with your recipients.
• Scholarship Recipient Spotlight Mailing
  THCF staff sends a mailing in July/August with details about your scholarship recipients, including headshots, contact information, details about their educational and career goals, and brief thank you notes from them.

• Application Period
  Generally, THCF’s scholarship applications are opened to students in the October-November timeframe each year, and the applications are due in mid-February.
• Review Process
  The application review and candidate selection process takes place during March and April.
• Award Notifications
  Candidate notification of awards or declination happens during April and May.
• Event
  The Scholarship Reception takes place during June.
• Payments
  Scholarship payments are made on behalf of recipients during July.

Yes. You can utilize the Donor Portal to check the specifics of your scholarship fund and download quarterly fund statements.

Yes. Contact Rachael Cassiday Watkins, Director of Scholarships, at watkins@thcf.org or 816-912-4185 for assistance with receiving a list of scholarship recipients.