Our Funds

Wow, donors are taking action! Currently 156 wide-ranging interest philanthropic funds are established at the Community Foundation. Take a look at each Fund description below and how donors support needs and help worthy causes, now and forever.

84 Donor Advised Funds
46 Designated Funds
19 Field of Interest Funds
7 Community Impact Funds

Most of our funds are listed below, and many have links for more information. You may make a gift to any of these funds at any time. Funds not listed here are anonymous, as requested by the donor.

YOUR GIFT:
-Can be given in honor of a friend or a loved one.
-Is tax deductible.
-Supports many local programs that need it most.
-Donors who give $1,000 or more are members of our Philanthropy Magnified Society.

Ways to Give –
A Fund:
• Create a Donor-Advised Fund: minimum $10,000 for an endowed fund or $20,000 for an expendable fund. Add to an existing Donor-Advised Fund: gift of any amount
• Designated Funds gift of any amount
• Field of Interest Funds gift of any amount

Deferred Gifts:
• A deferred or planned gift (assets in retirement plans, life insurance, securities, real estate, trusts, tangible personal property, and/or cash), gift of any amount

Annual support current use (where it’s needed most):
• Operating support gift of any amount
• HEROES Circle (Helping Expand Resources, Operational Effectiveness, & Service), $1,000 or more
• Operating three-year pledge gifts, each year $2,500, $1,000, $500, or $250
• Operational Endowment gift of any amount
• Community Memorial Fund gift of any amount

General Funds

Community Memorial Fund

Offers you an opportunity to make a difference in our local communities. Your gift to this fund celebrates and memorializes the life of your loved one, client, colleague, or friend; and continues to benefit the communities where they have lived and worked or both.

More Info

Tompkins Today and Tomorrow Endowment Fund

Community Foundation board members, stewards of the endowment are grateful for these gifts and look forward to others supporting it as well. “We are so grateful for this gift. It is a vote of confidence in how our grantmaking engages the community to address local needs,” said Randy Ehrenberg, 2017 board chair. 2018 chair Susan H. Murphy added, “This endowment gives us greater flexibility and more resources to meet emerging local challenges today and well into the future!”

More Info

Tompkins Today and Tomorrow Fund

Your gift to this fund immediately supports grants made through our annual grant cycles: 1) Library Grant Cycle, 2) Spring Grant Cycle (aging, women, youth, animal welfare or the environment) and 3) Fall Grant Cycle (priorities posted annually) as well as for the Out of Cycle processes.

More Info

Community Foundation Operational Endowment

A forever fund! You can support the programs and services of Community Foundation including philanthropy education, donor services, community knowledge sharing and leadership now and forever.

Field of Interest

Arts & Culture Fund

Your gift to this fund supports grants made through our annual Spring Grant Cycle, as well as the General Letter of Inquiry process to benefit local arts and culture programs. One past recipient includes Civic Ensemble for a community-based play to explore social, political and cultural issues of our time.

Birth To 3 Endowment Fund

The first three years of a child's life are a critical period of development. Early interactions and supports serve as the foundation for later skills and achievements. The Birth to 3 Fund supports the social, physical, and emotional capabilities of infants and toddlers, which will generate returns that will accrue over a lifetime.

More Info

Cathy Zumoff Basic Needs Fund

To provide food, shelter, counseling, or other basic needs such as animal protection.

Children & Youth Fund

No gift is ever wasted on a child. Help promote the healthy development of children and youth in ways that complement existing services in Tompkins County.

More Info

Crime Victims & Sexual Assault Survivors Fund

Your support will benefit agencies and organizations that help victims of crime and sexual assault.

Environmental Education Fund

Environmental education in the Cayuga Lake watershed region.

Jane Efroymson Fund to Defeat Hunger

Supports initiatives that can meet long-term hunger needs and provide solutions to mitigate their causes. Over 10% of our citizens are considered food insecure and do not have regular access to enough food for a healthy life; more than quarter of them are children. In a country of so much abundance, we believe these numbers can, and must, be reduced.

Joel Zumoff Education in the Arts

Arts organizations providing an educational component. Not including museums and libraries.

Lansing Community Fund

This fund will support Lansing Projects & Activities.

Nosanchuk Family Fund

This fund will provide annual grants to enhance the welfare and intellectual development of children thru the age of 24 in nutrition and food security, health and transition into adulthood.

Our Rural Neighbors Fund

The fund focuses on serving rural communities in Tompkins County, supporting improved access to services and enhanced activities that better the quality of life for rural residents. The fund will, hopefully, inspire further philanthropy, catalyzing collaborations and supporting inclusion and justice.

Resilience and Possibilities Endowment Fund

Helping people, especially men, young and old, in various difficult situations. Basic needs: health, food security, housing and opportunities. Child development to adult stages. Advocacy for vulnerable and at-risk populations. Fostering and promoting resilience and identification of possibilities.

Social Justice Fund

Dedicated to understanding and interrupting the traditional patterns of exclusion which prevent equal opportunity for all.

More Info

Susan Christopherson Community Planning Fund

Established by Susan Christopherson through her will. Susan envisioned communities in Central New York engaging their residents effectively and meaningfully in decision making around planning issues that affect their day-to-day lives. This Fund will assist residents who want to improve their communities through planning and design.

More Info

Sustainability Fund

For programs like but not limited to: zero waste, grassroots creativity, agents of change, new ways of solving problems, teaching sustainability skills, agriculture, youth in nature educational programs.

Women’s Fund

Consider supporting the empowerment, education, creativity and transformation of women and to provide a venue for honoring women as philanthropists and leaders.

More Info

Donor Advised

21 Goodwill Street Fund

The 21 Goodwill Street Fund is a family fund established to engage several generations of the Shafer family in supporting a variety of community needs.

Bailey Place Insurance Fund

More Info

Bernard Carl and Shirley Rosen Library Fund

Established with a generous gift from the estate of Bernard Rosen. Bernie's gift is transforming, and promoting genuine intellectual curiosity and a lifelong love of reading and learning by providing greater and easier access by youth to libraries in the Finger Lakes Library System.

More Info

Birth to 3 Fund

The first three years of a child's life are a critical period of development. Early interactions and supports serve as the foundation for later skills and achievements. The Birth to 3 Fund grants money to programs and initiatives in our community that support the social, physical, and emotional development of infants and toddlers up to the age of three. The fund provides seed money to help get new programs started, support ongoing programs, and expand current programs. In addition, the fund seeks to support programs that demonstrate a widespread impact on families, from a range of backgrounds, who are raising children in the birth to three age range.

More Info

Blecher Schaffzin Family Fund

Bunny’s Medical Education and Health Care Fund

Created in memory of Bunny-O’Brien/Schassburger, a consummate nurse practitioner to enhance the continuing professional education and training of medical personnel, as well as facilitate communication and understanding between medical professionals, aspiring health care providers, patients and their families/care givers and to help provide enhanced quality of life for those undergoing therapy and end of life care.

Carolyn J. McPherson Fund

To promote educational, economic and social equality for women and girls and to motivate and encourage women and girls to achieve their goals in life!

Carman and Sandra Brink Hill Fund

Community Gratitude Fund

The philanthropic purpose of this fund is (1) Environmental Stewardship (2) Meaningful collaborations among organizations (3) Initiatives to bring people of different perspectives together to work toward shared goals.

The Catalyst Fund

This fund supports charitable organizations with a focus on, but not limited to, children, education and environment. Helping youth reach their potential through education, health, and other means.

David E. Dier Fund

A fund to support Not for Profit organizations of Tompkins County

David J. Kuckuk and Sheila Danko Fund

Dorothy L. Allen Black Gospel Music Fund

Established to support Gospel music in traditional African American congregations.

Earle Family Fund

Supports local and national charities that promote cultural, educational, health, social justice and related work.

Educational Enrichment Opportunities Fund

Erin Aljoe Schlather Dedicated Memorial Fund

Supports initiatives that develop leadership, responsibility and confidence in young people, especially young women; Erin believed that it was her responsibility to make the world a better place. She inspired others to believe in themselves and in their ability to make a difference. To Erin, it never was whether the cup was half full or half empty, rather it was that the cup was not big enough.

Flamingo Fund

The purpose of this fund is helping people.

Florino Family Fund

Grants will be recommended from this fund to work - supporting organizations in Tompkins County that focus on: 1. teaching the skills of life transformation 2. reaching out to disconnected and at-risk youth 3. confronting the primary barriers to work (criminal history, disabilities, family instability, homelessness, and substance abuse)

Friendship Donations Network Fund

Rescuing Food, Reducing Hunger
Friendship Donations Network, almost entirely volunteer-run, rescues fresh, nutritious food that would otherwise be thrown away from stores and farms and redistributes it to neighbors in need.

More Info

Hartnett Fund

One of the first funds created by a private individual, the late Howard Hartnett, an incorporating board member of the Community Foundation of Tompkins County; supports a broad range of community needs.

Hess Legacy Fund

Jack Engel Young Fund

James E. Lawrence Environmental Fund

Established to honor the life of James E. Lawrence, a dedicated conservationist and environmentalist. Grants from the Fund will support his love of the natural world through local and regional conservation projects.

Jewels Fund

To improve the lives of people in local, state, national and international communities.

Joyful Noise Fund

The purpose of this fund is general philanthropy.

Just Be Cause Philanthropy Fund

Supports local not-for-profit organizations.

More Info

Just Community Fund

This fund will be used to support initiatives that work to achieve greater equity within our community and world. These would include, but not be limited to, initiatives addressing: social justice, food security, youth empowerment and education, environmental stewardship, and fostering connections across differences.

Kammen Family Fund

Kathy Yoselson Fierce Determination Fund

More Info

Kraut Family Fund

Lane Family Fund

Laurie Conrad Music and Arts Fund

A memorialized fund for Laurie Conrad. In support of her interests in classical music, ballet instruction and performance, and documentary film making for social justice causes.

More Info

League of Women Voters of Tompkins County Education Fund

Supports the educational activities of the League of Women Voters of Tompkins County, a nonpartisan organization, encourages the informed and active participation of citizens in government.

More Info

Lynnette Molesky Scofield Fund

Mansoor Family Fund

In gratitude for friends, colleagues and Cornell classmates, the Mansoor Family Fund supports charitable initiatives in the Ithaca and Tompkins County.

Many Hands: Peter D. Wadach Memorial Fund

Established to provide opportunities for individuals and to serve humanity in the diverse and generous ways that Pete Wadach did throughout his life.

Mathios Family Fund

McCollister Frank Family Fund

To support arts, education and historic preservation.

McPheron Family Fund

This fund may provide resources towards general charitable purposes.

Miller Family Fund

Myrtle Dee Nash Memorial Fund

Noah, Zach and Hannah Feldshuh Fund

To celebrate and support our communities.

North American Rock Garden Society-Adirondacks Chapter Fund

Supports projects to the promote rock gardening.

More Info

Paul Velleman and Susan Michlovitz Fund

To honor the philanthropic goals of the donors parents.

RAP [Regenerative Activities and Projects] Fund

Supporting projects in energy conservation, renewable energy, community resilience, wildlife habitat restoration and community enrichment.

Ridenour Dietz Family Fund

Ridenour-Shady Family Fund

Rotary Club of Ithaca Fund

In alignment with Rotary's motto of service above self, to support a broad range of needs across Tompkins County and beyond.

Rotary Youth Exchange (RYE) Travel Fund

This fund will support program expenses associated with RYE programs sponsored by Rotary Club of Ithaca.

Rothman & Alford Fund

Sandy and Jay True Fund

Savin-Williams & Cohen Fund

Shelley Semmler Fund

Small and Inspiring Fund

To support broad charitable with a preference for, but not limited to, collaborative and/or innovative initiatives, programs, and projects that are community-supported, sustainable, and self-supporting (e.g. includes but is not limited to medical and basic research, scholarship, and basic needs (housing, child care, quality health care, mentor-apprentice employment opportunities, and arts and cultural enrichment)).

The Sophie Fund

In support of enhanced mental health initiatives aiding young people in the Ithaca area.

More Info

Stephen & Linda Pope Fund

Strebel Fund for Community Enrichment

Created in memory of and in the spirit of Lee Strebel's love of performing arts.

More Info

Sue & Steve Ruoff Fund

The philanthropic purpose of this fund is general philanthropic giving.

Taylor Peck Fund

The Expansion of Happiness Fund

Distributions from this fund are intended to be to organizations that help individuals realize well-being and happiness by alleviating burdens and barriers of financial, educational, social and racial inequities.

Thomas R. Bruce & Judith S. Pratt Fund

Tom & Caitlin Schryver Fund

Tom & Caitlin Schryver established their Fund to support organizations which maximize human potential.

Vector Magnetics Fund

White Family Fund

William and Judith Maxwell Internship Fund

To support the William L. Maxwell Internship Program of the Greater Ithaca Activities Center (GIAC). Grants from this fund are in honor of Judith Maxwell, Harpal Singh and William and Judith Maxwell. The Maxwell Internships will benefit the youth of greater Ithaca, ages 16 - 22, so that civic and commercial enterprises can act as as mentors and sponsors of youth who seek to gain a better understanding of their personal and professional opportunities.

More Info

Yarussi Family Fund

Designated Funds

A Network for Grateful Living Fund

A Network for Grateful Living (ANG*L)
provides education and support for the practice of grateful living as a global ethic, inspired by the teachings of Br. David Steindl-Rast and colleagues. Gratefulness fosters personal transformation, cross-cultural understanding, interfaith dialogue, intergenerational respect, nonviolent conflict resolution, and ecological sustainability.

More Info

Alex Haley Pool Fund

This fund will make grants to Greater Ithaca Activities Center (GIAC) for pool admission scholarships and incidental pool improvements.

More Info

Caroline Ulrey & Gerry Cox Tompkins County Public Library Fund

The philanthropic purpose of this fund to provide annual operating support.

More Info

Cascadilla Boat Club LTD Fund

More Info

Community Dispute Resolution Center (CDRC) “Talk Works” Fund

More Info

Community, Hope and Joy Fund

This fund will benefit Catholic Charities of Tompkins Tioga for housing programs in Tompkins County.

More Info

Community Science Institute's Tapan Mitra Environmental Education Fund

This fund will support the Community Science Institute in its work to collect scientifically credible data through long-term stream and lake monitoring partnerships with local groups of volunteers; facilitate public conversations about the use of these long-term datasets in the sustainable management of local and regional water bodies and other shared natural resources. Provide youth and their families with experiential, hands-on, water-focused science education opportunities with the goal of fostering the next generation of scientists, activists, and environmental stewards.

More Info

Dr. Marguerite Uphoff Endowment Fund

A fund established in honor of Dr. Uphoff and her many years of service to our local community; helping to fuel the annual grant making of the Children & Youth Fund, a field of interest fund of Community Foundation.

More Info

Eric Lawrence Ehrenberg Memorial Fund

To support the grant making of the Community Foundation's Children & Youth Fund, in memory of our beloved son, Eric Lawrence Ehrenberg (1971-2008), who grew up in Ithaca and loved this community and all that it afforded its youth.

Family Reading Partnership Fund

Established in 2017, this fund supports Family Reading Partnership initiatives.

More Info

Finger Lakes Land Trust Stewardship Fund

Supports the stewardship of land and conservation easements held by the Finger Lakes Land Trust.

More Info

First Baptist Endowments Fund

This fund will support the programs of First Baptist Church.

More Info

Foodnet Meals on Wheels Forever Fund

This fund will support Foodnet Meals on Wheels.

More Info

GIAC Fund

This fund provides annual support towards the food programming and technology-related needs of Greater Ithaca Activities Center (GIAC).

More Info

Groton Educational Fund

Supports the educational and operational needs for programs provided to the children and students of the Groton Central School District.

More Info

Harris Family American Cancer Society Endowment Fund

This fund was established in memory of William Harris.

Harris Family Cerebral Palsy Foundation Endowment Fund

This fund was established in memory of Ivan V. Harris.

Harris Family Immaculate Conception Church Endowment Fund

This fund was established in memory of Teresa V. Harris.

More Info

The History Center Fund

An endowment to support the programs of the History Center in Tompkins County.

More Info

Hospicare Fund

Hospicare believes that everyone matters all the way through their life until the moment they die, and that no one should die in avoidable pain, suffering or emotional distress. Hospicare Fund donors help make sure that everyone with a life-limiting or terminal condition, and their family and friends, gets the very best care. Hospicare is critical to achieving this in the communities we serve.

More Info

Ithaca Ballet’s Alice Reid Endowment Fund

This fund will support the Ithaca Ballet.

More Info

Ithaca Children's Garden Endowment Fund

This fund will support the general operations of the Ithaca Children's Garden.

More Info

Ithaca Community Chorus Fund

Established by the family of Bill Thayer, who sang tenor in the chorus both before and after he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. The Thayer family was particularly touched by the many kindnesses that chorus members extended to Bill as his illness advanced, and wanted to do something that would strengthen the chorus in years ahead.

More Info

Ithaca Health Alliance Fund

To support Ithaca Health Alliance's general structure and programs.

More Info

Joel and Cathy Zumoff Discovery Trail Fund

This fund will provide permanent funds to educate children through discovery along the Discovery Trail.

More Info

John Dix and Barbara Wayman Memorial Fund

Johnson Sisters Fund

To support the discretionary grant making of the Community Foundation.

More Info

Just Be Cause Agency Fund

An endowment to ensure the long-term stability of the Just Be Cause Center.

More Info

Kirsch and Tsuji Community Endowment Fund

This fund will assist the Community Foundation to improve the quality of life in Tompkins County.

Lansing Community Library Endowment Fund

Supports Lansing Community Library endowment.

More Info

Lenore Coral Fund

A bequest by Lenore Coral, a retired Cornell music librarian. Lenore established this fund through her will to support the International Repertory of Music Literature, an organization that archives literature and publications on music throughout the world.

More Info

Loaves & Fishes Fund

To support the mission of Loaves & Fishes of Tompkins County.

More Info

Museum of the Earth at PRI Fund

To support the educational programs and projects of Museum of the Earth.

More Info

Newfield Central School Fund

More Info

Rebecca Ryan R2P Youth Development Endowment Fund

This fund will support Running to Places Theatre Company for youth development through theater. Funding will help ensure this remarkable youth theater continues to create magic by making it possible for young people to shine their lights brightly, both individually and collectively.

More Info

Robin Lee Whittlesey Fund

This fund will make distributions to; (a) relieve poverty, (b) diminish hardships, (c) provide emergency relief and scholarship assistance and (d) generally improve the happiness, educational level and community spirit of the citizenry of Ithaca, New York and such other areas as may from time to time be selected by the Board of Directors.

Southside Community Center Fund

This fund provides annual support towards the food programming and technology-related needs of Southside Community Center.

More Info

The William L. Maxwell Internship Fund

To create and maintain the William L. Maxwell Internship Program at the GIAC.

More Info

Tom and Maria Eisner Finger Lakes Land Trust Endowment Fund

To provide annual operating funding in support of FLLT's mission.

More Info

Tom and Maria Eisner Ithaca Health Alliance Endowment Fund

To provide annual operating funding in support of Ithaca Health Alliance's mission.

More Info

Tom and Maria Eisner Loaves and Fishes Endowment Fund

To provide annual operating funding in support of Loaves and Fishes' mission.

More Info

Tom and Maria Eisner Planned Parenthood of Greater New York Endowment Fund

To provide annual operating funding in support of Planned Parenthood's mission.

More Info

United Way of Tompkins County Fund

An endowment for Long Term Investment Functioning as Endowment

More Info

Women's and Children's Projects Endowment Fund

This fund will provide a sustainable source of funding for projects in these two targeted areas; allowing flexibility in any given year to whichever area of need seems the most pressing.

quote Community Foundation Donor Advisor

I got to this point, and here it is, and lucky enough to be able to use my IRA and also other things to help locally.