Back to Index     

For 53 years The Norfolk Foundation has encouraged and maintained a permanent collection of endowment funds. Endowment funds are designed to last forever, which is why they are an attractive giving option for philanthropists. The Norfolk Foundation’s permanent funds are invested to provide annual financial support for specific organizations or charitable purposes in the community. Because they yield an annual source of income, they have also become important to the nonprofit organizations they support.

Endowments represent donors’ hopes and dreams for a charity’s mission to continue well into the future. Some endowments are built with current contributions, bequests and a variety of planned gifts from individual donors who want to provide ongoing support for a charitable organization or causes. A nonprofit also may establish its own endowment, helping to safeguard its future while providing a way for donors to make secure long-term gifts. Either way, endowment funds offer a way for donors to ensure the future of an organization when they are no longer actively giving to it or are deceased.

Recently two nonprofit organizations established endowment funds with The Norfolk Foundation. We applaud the efforts of the Hope House Foundation and South Hampton Roads Habitat for Humanity to provide stable funding sources for special projects and the ongoing operating needs of their organizations.

We also wish to recognize the Town Point Club, which established a fund to honor long-time employee Lynnwood Craig. The Lynnwood Craig Fund will benefit the Tidewater Juvenile Diabetes Foundation.

Endowment funds can be customized to fulfill a donor’s or organization’s specific interests and charitable goals. Donors may name specific charities they wish to benefit or areas of interest they want to support. They can also create scholarship funds to provide support for students seeking college or post-graduate degrees.
 

Back to Winter 2003 Newsletter Index