About the
Community Foundation

Community Foundations are public, nonprofit organizations that promote and facilitate philanthropy in specific geographic areas. They are tax-exempt public charities that support local nonprofits and people with philanthropic interests to easily and effectively grant funds for issues they care about now and through estates.

Community foundations do this by helping individuals, families, and businesses establish charitable funds to which they can contribute a variety of assets. Grants are then made from these funds to nonprofits to meet donors’ charitable goals. Donors and their families can be actively involved in selecting nonprofits and grant making and donations can be made in donors’ names or anonymously.

Community foundations have in-depth knowledge of their communities and remain alert to emerging needs to respond quickly and effectively. They convene groups including donors, nonprofit leaders and elected officials to help solve community problems, and foster greater giving and volunteering.

Community foundations have a long tradition of helping bring about thoughtful, effective change. The first one was started in 1914 in Cleveland, and today there are more than 750 throughout the United States.

The Community Foundation of Jackson Hole exists to “improve lives through philanthropic leadership” by providing superior donor services, making grants that positively impact the community, ensuring the sustainability of Jackson Hole’s philanthropic community, and acting as a leader, catalyst and resource.

The Community Foundation of Jackson Hole is a very active and engaged community funder, consistently ranked at the top amongst other community foundations for per-capita giving, per-capita granting and transactional volume. The Community Foundation is especially engaged in its hands-on support of local nonprofits with financial and technical support while also sharing extensive knowledge of local needs and organizations with interested donors. Old Bill’s Fun Run – the Community Foundation’s signature, collaborative fund-raising event for local nonprofits – was the first of its kind in the nation. Over the past twenty-four years, it has inspired thousands of donors to give millions of dollars, over $200 million, to benefit Jackson Hole.

The Community Foundation facilitates charitable giving with streamlined gift management and reporting, in-depth nonprofit information, customized recognition or anonymity, tax benefits, and endowment management. It offers a wide range of donor programs, vehicles, and funds to suit diverse donor needs. Old Bill’s Fun Run offers donors an elegant way to support multiple organizations with a single donation.

The Community Foundation assists nonprofits by offering competitive grants, nonprofit management expertise, and educational programs such as board development and grant writing training, while also serving as a connection to Jackson Hole donors. Old Bill’s Fun Run benefits nonprofits by providing a structured fundraising opportunity with a matching grant.

• To facilitate charitable giving by the donor community;
• To attract financial support from new donors to address community needs;
• To offer local competitive grant funding;
• To enable donors to support the field(s) they are interested in, rather than limiting their selection to specific charities;
• To provide philanthropic permanence and sustainability;
• To encourage organizations to collaborate and communicate by offering venues for networking;
• To educate the entire community by providing seminars, workshops, one-on-one consultation, and reference materials relating to nonprofit management and operations;
• To increase the capacity of local organizations to achieve their missions in the most cost-effective manner possible.

The Community Foundation is funded through direct contributions, investment income generated by non-endowed funds, administrative fees on endowment funds and Old Bill’s Fun Run, and supplemental support from its operating endowment.

No. By making charitable giving easy, the Community Foundation brings more money to nonprofits, enhancing their sustainability and effectiveness. The Community Foundation also promotes annual formalized giving to nonprofits through Old Bill’s Fun Run.

Individuals and organizations create funds at the Community Foundation for a variety of reasons:

• To administer their philanthropy in informed and efficient ways;
• To be part of a community of fellow fundholders seeking to strengthen the Jackson Hole community;
• To provide funds in perpetuity to a cause or area of interest anywhere in the world;
• To develop an ongoing relationship with the Community Foundation to learn from and leverage its philanthropic services and expertise.

The Community Foundation is a public charity. As a result, donors enjoy maximum flexibility and tax benefits when they make contributions, whereas the rules governing gifts to a private foundation are more restrictive. Private foundations are subject to excise taxes and various limitations on grant recipients and investments. With a fund at the Community Foundation, donors have no meeting or reporting requirements. Donors to the Community Foundation also become part of a “community of givers” who strengthen the Jackson Hole community.

Commercial donor-advised funds offered by major financial institutions extend the same tax-deductions as a fund at the Community Foundation and most have an online grant system; however, this is the extent of the similarities.

Donor advised funds at the Community Foundation are relationship-and service-based. Commercial funds are transaction-based. The Community Foundation can accept the full range of gift opportunities, including bequests, real estate and non-marketable securities. Commercial funds tend to be limited to cash and publicly traded securities.

Donors to the Community Foundation become part of a community of donors recognized in our Annual Report. Commercial funds are not community based. Fees charged by the Community Foundation are reinvested in the community to encourage more philanthropy and community-building. Fees charged by commercial funds benefit the financial institution. The Foundation is a small-town organization with big city expertise. The close relationships we build with fundholders ensure that the original intent and focus of your giving will be honored in perpetuity.

Staff at the Community Foundation has in-depth understanding of the community’s challenges and the groups and individuals addressing them, which helps donors make informed decisions. Our knowledge of the community enables us to make a difference by funding high-impact initiatives addressing a broad range of local needs.

Many donors establish and contribute to personal donor-advised funds and then make recommendations for grant distributions to nonprofits over time. Donors also contribute through giving circles, trusts, endowments and scholarships. Old Bill’s Fun Run is a popular event for donors to support many nonprofits at one time by contributing to the matching pool or designating the specific organizations they wish to support.

Fundholders often give outside the Jackson Hole community. Although the Community Foundation’s expertise is identifying and addressing the needs of Teton County, Wyoming, we encourage donors to make grants to causes that are important to them, wherever they may be.