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Helping you help your clients

The Philanthropic Leaders Advisory Network is a Community Foundation initiative supporting the important work of local wealth advisors and the relationships they’ve built with clients.

The Community Foundation enhances this relationship by offering professional wealth advisors our broad-based knowledge of community needs and charitable giving. Through educational seminars and regular updates on charitable giving, legislative changes, and more, we work hard to make sure we offer the best resources to help your clients make choices that reflect their good intentions and offer tax efficiency, too.

Contact us to learn more.

CFA Director of Donor Services Katrina Perkosky
kperkosky@cfalleghenies.org I 814-208-8411

Perkosky Katrina 1934 E1644255938747

PLAN MEMBERS

Find a participating wealth advisor

Click on a name to email an advisor, or click the institution name to be directed to a web address for further information.

How we support your client relationships

When your clients want to have a lasting impact on their community, we can help you execute their philanthropic intentions. The Community Foundation offers professional wealth advisors a broad-based knowledge of community needs, along with a deep well of experience in charitable giving. CLICK HERE to read more about why professional advisors recommend the Community Foundation to their clients and how we can support you in these trusted relationships.

Let’s have a conversation about how we can work together! Contact Katrina Perkosky at kperkosky@cfalleghenies.org or 814-208-8411 for more information.

OUR INVESTMENT COMMITTEE

Thank you to the Community Foundation’s Investment Committee members:

  • Samuel Catanese
  • Casey Craig
  • Kim Craig
  • Steven Dull
  • John Kriak
  • Mark Pasquerilla
  • Craig Saylor
  • Tyler Trimbath
  • Joel Valentine

HOW WE INVEST

The Community Foundation believes that strategic asset allocation provides a solid foundation upon which proper investment goals and strategies to achieve those goals can be built. By focusing on risk-adjusted returns using a blend of passive investment strategies and active strategies in less efficient asset classes, the long-term goals of the donors and the organization can most reasonably be met. Click the button below to read more about our investment approach, find a link to our investment policy, and see the latest historical performance report.

RESOURCES FOR WEALTH ADVISORS

How CFA Works With Donors

Explore how the Community Foundation provides a simple, powerful, and highly personal approach to philanthropy.

Legacy Society

The Community Foundation works with individuals and their wealth advisors to create permanent funding for any cause close to their heart.

Sample Bequest Language

Charitable bequests are the most common form of planned giving. Click below for suggested language options.

Private Foundation vs. Community Foundation

View a side-by-side comparison of the two approaches to supporting a cause.

Ways to Give

There are many ways to give through the Community Foundation. Here are some of the most common methods.

Charitable Gift Annuities

A simple, flexible giving option: Receive annual income while supporting the causes you care most about.

Planned Giving Overview

The Community Foundation can help your clients find the best fit for their philanthropic goals.

Why the Community Foundation?

The foundation manages funds that make our communities better every day.

Who we work with

We help people meet their charitable goals, whether that is building a legacy that will last forever through an estate gift or providing flexible and immediate giving options through a donor advised fund. When we meet with potential donors, our first job is to listen. We work hard to learn what causes are important to each person and to understand their giving needs, so we can create a fund that works best for them.

We can work with companies to establish charitable funds to support community causes and engage employees in philanthropy. More than 25 school districts and educational organizations use our funds to easily manage a variety of scholarship programs, project funding streams, and activity booster accounts. Working with the Community Foundation reduces responsibility for their business offices and gives their donors a way to charitably contribute to school programs.

Our professional management and investment services allow nonprofit organizations to grow agency endowments that provide a reliable source of annual income. Nonprofits also use the Community Foundation to help assist with fundraising efforts, relieving receipting and acknowledgment responsibilities from their staff so their employees can focus on their mission.

Our charitable administration services allow private foundations to easily and efficiently meet their philanthropic duties with the help of the Community Foundation’s experienced grantmaking staff. We can build custom applications, perform due diligence, and provide information related to best practices and community needs. Some private foundations have even transferred their assets to a fund managed by the Community Foundation, which reduces legal requirements, tax liabilities, and other costs, while ensuring that the charitable effort of the fund can be maintained in perpetuity.

The Community Foundation offers a variety of fund types, each designed to meet the specific goals of the donor:

Donor Advised Funds: Donors enjoy administrative convenience, cost savings, and tax advantages. Each year, they recommend nonprofits in which they want to invest, and the Community Foundation does all the work in administering those grants.

Designated Funds: Donors may support up to four specific charitable organizations to support.

Field-of-Interest Funds: Donors identify an area of personal interest, such as the arts, economic development, education, the environment, health, housing, basic human services, seniors, or youth. Within that area of interest, the Community Foundation identifies the best philanthropic use of the fund’s distributions, now and into the future.

Scholarship Funds: Donors can honor loved ones, inspire young people, and invest in the community’s future generations.

Unrestricted Funds: These funds provide flexibility by allowing our Distribution Committee and staff to use their knowledge and expertise in determining which efforts or initiatives would be most impactful for the community. These funds address our community’s pressing needs and promising opportunities. We receive more than 200 applications annually from local nonprofits seeking support from these funds.

Agency Funds: Donors provide ongoing support to a pre-determined nonprofit, while the CFA handles investments and administrative responsibilities, allowing the organization to focus on their mission.

Administrative Funds: Donors can invest in the Community Foundation and further its charitable purposes by helping to defray its expenses. The long-term goal of the Community Foundation is to be supported entirely by its administrative endowment fund.

Partnership Funds: The Community Foundation manages donations on behalf of grassroots activists, and funding is redistributed to benefit local initiatives.

To discuss how we can help you pursue your philanthropic interests, contact Director of Donor Services Katrina Perkosky at 814-208-8411 or kperkosky@cfalleghenies.org.

PLAN and Legacy News

The team at the Community Foundation is a resource and sounding board as you serve your philanthropic clients. News and updates are provided for informational purposes and not intended as legal, accounting, or financial planning advice. Please check blog posts dates, particularly on pieces that involve pending legislation, which can change rapidly.

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