If you would like to contribute to our Community Needs Fund, click on the "Donate Now" button and follow the prompts. The Community Needs Fund focuses on the community's pressing needs.

About Network for Good - the Internet's leading charitable resource, an e-philanthropy site where individuals can donate, volunteer and get involved with the issues they care about. The organization's goal is to connect people to charities via the Internet, using the virtual world to deliver real resources to nonprofits and communities. Founded in 2001 by the AOL Time Warner Foundation and AOL, Inc.; the Cisco Foundation and Cisco Systems, Inc.; and Yahoo! Inc., Network for Good is an independent, 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization headquartered in San Francisco, California. In addition to connecting the public with opportunities to give, Network for Good works to advance nonprofit adoption of the Internet as a tool for fundraising, volunteer recruitment and community engagement. It represents a groundbreaking partnership with leading technology and media companies and more than 20 nonprofit foundations and associations who share the desire to foster the informed use of the Internet for civic participation and philanthropy.

The Portsmouth Community Foundation IRS Form 990 (tax return) is available at www.guidestar.org and is available upon request. Our Audited Financial Statements are available from The State Division of Consumer Affairs, P.O. Box 1163, Richmond, VA 23218

Sign up for our Email Newsletter

Join Portsmouth's active philanthropists seeking to make a difference in their community, seeking to help even if it is one person at a time, and wanting to continue a family legacy of giving back.

CLICK HERE to read more about how you can create your legacy

""You have not lived until you have done something for someone who can never repay you." ~John Bunyan

CREATING A FUND IS THE FIRST STEP

1. DECIDE WHEN TO GIVE—create your fund now, establish it with your will, or create it through a trust agreement that benefits your family as well as charity. You may give in honor of or in memory of someone. Tax deductions are earned at the time of your gift, while grants awarded from the fund can continue into the future.

2. DECIDE WHAT TO GIVE—almost any kind of asset can be used to start your fund. We can also discuss other options with you, such as bequests, charitable remainder trusts, charitable lead trusts, pooled income funds, and life income.

3. DECIDE THE NAME FOR YOUR FUND—you choose the name. Every grant from the fund will carry this name. You may choose anonymity.

4. DECIDE THE TYPE OF FUND—we offer a variety of funds that are flexible to meet our donor's charitable interests:

A variety of giving methods tailored to your unique situation.

BEQUEST BY WILL: A legacy of giving. Including a charitable bequest in your will is a simple way to make a lasting gift to your community. When you make this gift through your community foundation, we establish a special fund that benefits the community forever and becomes your personal legacy of giving. You can decide to do it at any age by adding to an existing will or drafting a new one. In doing so you leave a legacy to your community, while enjoying the assets you need to maintain your current lifestyle. Plus, you are able to distribute some or all of your assets, tax free.

CHARITABLE REMAINDER TRUST:Giving through a Charitable Remainder Trust allows you to receive income for the rest of your life, knowing that whatever remains will benefit your community.
You transfer assets into a trust, and the trust pays you, or a beneficiary you designate, regular income payments. Upon the beneficiary's death or after a defined period of years, the remaining assets in the trust transfer to the community foundation. You may choose to receive a fixed income or one that changes with market conditions - income from the Charitable Remainder Trust you establish may add up to more than interest and dividends you earned from holding the assets. The amount of annuity paid and the tax deduction received depends on the age of the recipient and the current annuity rate (as established by the Internal Revenue Service).

CHARITABLE LEAD TRUST:A Charitable Lead Trust helps you build a charitable fund with your community foundation during the trust's term. When the trust terminates, the remaining assets are transferred to you or your heirs, often with significant transfer-tax savings. You transfer assets into a trust, which pays the community foundation an annual amount to build a charitable fund. During its term, the trust can be managed expertly by experienced trust professionals, which may help your trust investments grow over time. When the trust terminates, either upon your death or after a specified number of years, its final assets are transferred to those you designate; any growth in the trust passes to recipients, often with significant transfer-tax savings. A Charitable Lead Trust shelters investment earnings from tax, and it offers gift, estate, and generation-skipping tax benefits. A Charitable Lead Unitrust makes annual distributions of a fixed percentage of the trust assets to the charitable fund you establish. If you create a Charitable Lead Annuity Trust, the charitable fund you establish will receive a fixed dollar amount each year.

CHARITABLE ASSETS:Turn what you have into charitable good.

OUTRIGHT GIFT: You can make a gift of cash, stocks, bonds, real estate, or other assets to your community foundation. Most charitable gifts qualify for maximum tax advantage under federal law.

GIFT OF REAL ESTATE: Making a charitable gift of real estate through your community foundation can help you turn your property gains into community good. The value of your real estate may exceed that of any other asset you own. You may choose to give real estate outright and receive an immediate tax deduction, or retain the use of the property during your lifetime and make a planned gift to your community foundation. A gift of real estate must be professionally appraised to establish its fair market value. It is also assessed for compliance with our acceptance policies to make sure its resale will provide the appropriate value to community.

GIFT OF LIFE INSURANCE: Your community as your beneficiary. Life insurance provides a simple way for you to give a significant gift to charity, with tax benefits that you can enjoy during your lifetime. You can use regular payments from a Charitable Remainder Trust to establish an irrevocable life insurance trust. The trust can purchase insurance on your life to benefit your heirs. This way, you can make a gift to your community foundation and replace the value of this gift within your estate with life insurance proceeds.

GIFT OF APPRECIATED STOCK: Your gift of stock is reinvested in our community, and it qualifies for an immediate tax deduction based on the market value. You can avoid capital gains taxes that would be due as a result of its sale and establish a charitable fund that benefits the local causes and organizations you care about most.

CLICK HERE TO COMPARE FOUR APPROACHES TO GIVING Compare giving through a private foundation, a commercial gift fund, a community foundation supporting organization, and a community foundation donor advised fund.

DONOR ADVISED FUND: A personal approach to giving. Establishing a Donor Advised Fund allows you to make a gift to your community foundation, then remain actively involved in suggesting uses for your gift. The community foundation's professional staff can assist you if you wish. Grant awards are issued to charities in the name of the fund (or anonymously if you prefer). Donor Advised Funds are convenient, flexible tools for those that want to be personally involved in suggesting grants made possible by their gifts. Donor Advised Funds are typically less costly and easier to administer than family or corporate foundations. You can add to the fund at any time, receiving tax benefits with each new gift. You can establish a fund today and make grant recommendations now or in the future. And if you endow your gift, it becomes a permanent community funding resource.

FIELD OF INTEREST FUND: Connecting personal values to high-impact opportunities. By establishing a Field of Interest Fund, you can target your gift to address needs in an important area of community life. While you direct the Field of Interest Fund you establish from its creation, the maintenance is left up to us. Our professional program staff continually monitors community needs so that you can be sure grants made in the name of your fund make the most impact in your field of interest and create your personal legacy of giving. You can add to the fund at any time - and so can others. If you endow your gift, it becomes a permanent community funding resource.

SCHOLARSHIP FUND:In creating a Scholarship fund, you invest in your community's future and show students you care. Your community foundation provides the expertise to help you meet your personal goals and awards Scholarships to deserving students. The scholarship fund you establish can support any area of academic need. If the scholarship fund you establish is renewable, you can review updated information on the progress of recipients over the years. You may even elect to meet these students - something many donors find rewarding.

DESIGNATED FUND: Establishing a Designated Fund allows you to support the good work of a specific nonprofit organization. Because it's given through your community foundation, your gift provides the organization not only funding, but planned giving and investment management services and the power of endowment. You can add to the fund at any time. If the organization you select ceases to exist or changes its mission, the fund can be redirected so that it continues to address your original charitable intent.

ENDOWING YOUR NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION:Nonprofit organizations can also establish a Designated Fund or agency endowment at the community foundation. It's a simple and efficient way to build an endowment - and help create sustainability. The community foundation's experienced staff can also help your organization develop a planned giving program. The community foundation's economies of scale provide your organization the benefits of a diverse investment portfolio and low investment fees that typically come only with very large funds. Your organization's donors can leave a bequest through the community foundation to benefit your organization forever and create a personal legacy. The Community foundation can facilitate even the most complex planned gifts or gifts of appreciated stock or real estate.

UNRESTRICTED FUND: Meeting ever-changing community needs. When you establish an Unrestricted Fund, your gift can address a broad range of local needs - including future needs that often cannot be anticipated at the time your gift is made. We evaluate all aspects of community well-being: arts and culture, economic development, education, environment, health and human services, neighborhood revitalization, and more. The flexibility of your unrestricted gift enables your community foundation's program experts to respond to the community's most pressing needs, today and tomorrow. Because you set no restrictions on the use of your gift, it enables our experienced program staff and board to do what they do best - assess community needs and respond by awarding grants to the nonprofit organizations that undertake our community's most critical work. Unrestricted Funds enable your community foundation to support long-term solutions; respond quickly to emergencies. Grants are made in the name of the fund you establish, creating your personal legacy of giving. You may give your gift immediately or through your will or another estate planning strategy. If you endow your gift, it becomes a permanent community funding resource.

The following charities have established an endowment fund with The Portsmouth Community Foundation. This is an important step in planning for the future of a charity and shows good judgment on the part of its Board of Directors. Funds at The Portsmouth Community Foundation are commingled only for investment purposes so that all funds can take advantage of investment opportunities offered to larger investment pools.

Please visit the website of these charities to learn more about their work and their successes.

Edmarc Hospice Care for Children serving families with children wh have a life-threatening illness. Edmarc provides home health care, hospice care, sibling & family support, and bereavement care.