Honor Your Loved One

When a loved one dies, keeping their memory alive is a way of honoring their life and finding comfort as a survivor. It's a reflective method to show your love for the one you have lost and to preserve their memory.  A gift in their honor can be made to any existing fund at Hudson Community Foundation or establish a new fund in their memory.  Memorial funds at Hudson Community Foundation (HCF) can be named to honor your loved one or your entire family.  Grants from your fund will continue to preserve their memory with each gift.  Often when starting a memorial fund families focus on something their loved one cared deeply about, such as child welfare, animal rescue, or a certain medical condition.  With a a donation to an existing fund, families can utilize Hudson Community Foundation’s board to meet the community’s emerging and future needs and opportunities.

Types of Memorial Funds   

Consider the following to create a memorial fund in honor of your loved one:

• Do you want to support a specific area of interest?

A “Field of Interest Fund” will allow you to select one or more general causes to support, such as youth or the arts in our community.

• Do you have certain organizations you want to support?

This type of fund is called a “Designated Fund” and funnels your gift, in honor of your loved one, to one or more specifically named charities located anywhere in the United States.   Scholarship Funds are a form of Designated Fund at Hudson Community Foundation. 

• Would you like the flexibility to support an ever changing list of charities at your discretion?

A “Donor Advised Fund” lets you direct the grants from your named fund at any time and grant to 501c3 organizations anywhere in the country.

• If you are unsure as to how you would like the funds to be spent?

By establishing a named “Unrestricted Fund" you can utilize the HCF board to identify the needs in the community and the grant to the recipient will have your memorial fund name. You can also make a grant to these HCF funds: Hudson NOW,” or “Hudson FOREVER Endowment Fund." The gifts will come as a grant honoring your loved one.

• Would you like your memorial fund to be a Scholarship ?

Establishing a "Scholarship Fund" in memory of your loved one will help empower youth with opportunities and fulfill your charitable goals.

• Do you want your memorial gifts to go on for eternity?

Any of the funds mentioned above can be an “endowment” when they reach $25,000.  This allows your fund’s gifts, and the name of your family or loved one, to live on into perpetuity.  A fund doesn’t need to be established as an endowment.  It can be added to and grown over time.  If you choose for your fund to be “endowed” the principal of your fund is never spent.  It will grow and generate an increasing stream of grant making funding to fulfill your charitable wishes endlessly.

• What types of assets can be used to establish a fund?

Funds can be established with a large variety of assets, including: cash, marketable securities, life insurance policies, closely held stock (both “C” and “S” corporations,) and real estate.  Gifts can come from individuals, families, companies, estates, trusts, and private foundations.  Contributions are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law.

We provide a wide variety of giving options, types of funds and complete support services to allow donors to turn their charitable dreams into permanent legacies.