When I was growing up in the hills of my birth country, television stations were very limited, and the only reliable option was public television. We could see Masterpiece Theater, Sesame Street, cartoons, The Adventures of Sherlock Homes, and occasionally an interesting documentary. I took all of these programs for granted, assuming that some magic money tree funded them. Only as an adult, understanding the way programs are made, did I realize the programs are often paid for by private and public foundations.
Basically, a foundation is an organization which identifies deficiencies in the community and tries to use its resources to rectify the problems. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is well-known, and here in our state we often hear about the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation which has made health care possible for many people who would otherwise not receive it if the programs depended solely on public funding. The United Way, another extremely beneficial organization, would hardly be able to maintain its wonderful work without such foundations. As grand as these foundations are, however, they don’t meet every need in our community.
One difficulty foundations face is in their creation. Starting a foundation requires answers to questions such as how much money will be available, how to get that money, how the money will be allocated to needy projects, and how the foundation will deal with its own tax issues. Just considering these questions will scare away many potential founders, regardless of their financial affluence. Fortunately there are foundations with the purpose of helping create foundations; they help take care of the woes that face foundations in the early stages of upstart.
Our financial planner, Linsey Mills, made us aware of one such foundation when we asked him for advice in creating a foundation to help young people learn the benefits of holistic health. His family had worked with the National Heritage Foundation (nhf.org/nhf.htm) to start their own Mills Foundation (millsfoundation.com). Using traditional means, it costs more than $20,000 to start a foundation, but working under another foundation brought down the price and helped avoid the many government pitfalls.
Working with the National Heritage Foundation, it is possible to start a family foundation for less than $200. Because the NHF has helped so many foundations, their system is streamlined so that even complicated tasks can be made simple. This means the founders can focus on the mission of the foundation rather than the hassles involved in running it. Our own experience has been wonderful, creating the foundation and providing wellness seminars, making donations to other foundations, and even providing funds (more quickly than the government and many large foundations) to people in need such as the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Small family foundations are a great way to help realize charitable contributions and leave a legacy of one’s passions and sincere concerns.
Tags: Charitable, family, foundation, individual, Little Money