Welcome to the EPAC Corner! We are pleased to bring you this content from the Estate Planning Advisory Committee (EPAC) of the DeKalb County Community Foundation. If you have any questions about the information below or the EPAC group, please contact Community Foundation Executive Director Dan Templin at 815-748-5383 or dan@dekalbccf.org. 

The EPAC Corner content aims to provide general information about estate planning and charitable giving. We hope it’s helpful and informative. Suggestions for monthly content topics are welcome. We’d love to hear from you.

Estate planning: Your kids and Your Community 

As you contemplate your legacy and adjust your estate plan over the years, it’s natural to focus on your children and family as the primary beneficiaries in your will and trust. If you’re like an increasing number of charitably-minded individuals, though, you might find that your perspectives about what exactly it means to leave a legacy are expanding beyond your next of kin. Your community is on your mind and in your heart, and you’re interested in ways you can support and improve the quality of life for people in the region we call home.

If you’re intrigued, you are not alone! Many philanthropic individuals are broadening their estate plan beneficiaries to prominently include their community or favorite cause, right alongside children and grandchildren. The DeKalb County Community Foundation would be honored to discuss ways we can help.

Three community-focused options to consider in your overall philanthropy and estate plan:

Community Impact Fund

• Major advantages of the Community Foundation include its perpetual structure, community-based governance, and commitment to addressing needs as they change. A Community Impact Fund at the Foundation allows you and your family to provide support that evolves over time as priorities in DeKalb County shift. The Foundation’s mission is to understand the community and improve lives within it. The Foundation’s Board and professional staff continuously learn about the needs of the community and the nonprofit organizations that are addressing those needs. Establishing a Community Impact Fund means you are investing in the Foundation’s mission to address the community’s most pressing needs as well as future needs and opportunities throughout DeKalb County.

Field of Interest Fund

• A Field of Interest Fund at the Community Foundation is an ideal way to target your giving to specific areas of community need (such as education, health, environment, or the arts). Your Fund establishes parameters for grant making according to your wishes. The Foundation’s staff follows these parameters and uses its expertise to make grants that align with your intentions. Your Fund can continue beyond your lifetime and for multiple generations, consistently providing grants to support your area of interest according to the terms you established when you first created the Fund.

Designated Fund

• A Designated Fund at the Community Foundation can help you secure your favorite organization’s financial future so that its mission continues, uninterrupted, even in the face of challenges. If you have more than one organization you are passionate about helping, you can establish one Designated Fund that will support multiple organizations annually! You can even set up a Fund to support a governmental unit, such as your local library or park district. Fiscally healthy organizations rely on diverse revenue sources. Annual grant distributions from your Designated Fund at the Community Foundation provides a stable source of revenue that has a very low cost to administer, freeing the nonprofit to focus on their services rather than creating more fundraising events.

And here’s a bonus! If you plan to give to a Community Impact Fund, Field of Interest Fund, or a Designated Fund at the Community Foundation during your lifetime, and you’re over the age of 70 1/2, you can direct up to $105,000 each year from your IRA to the Fund. This is called a “Qualified Charitable Distribution,” or “QCD.” Not only do QCD transfers count toward satisfying your Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) if you’ve reached that age threshold, but you also avoid paying income tax on those dollars. Furthermore, the assets distributed through a QCD are no longer part of your estate upon your death, so you can avoid unnecessary estate taxes, too.

– Matthew L. Brown, local attorney and member of the DeKalb County Estate Planning Advisory Committee

Established in 2020, the DeKalb County Estate Planning Advisory Committee (EPAC) comprises of local professionals providing estate planning services, including attorneys, trust officers, CPAs, wealth advisors, and insurance agents. The purpose of the EPAC is to raise awareness and understanding of the Community Foundation as a resource for professional advisors and their clients, assist with efforts to deliver effective estate planning education to the general public and notify estate planning professionals on topics relevant to the intersection of estate planning and philanthropy.

Matthew L. Brown