A community foundation is a public charity that serves one geographic area and holds charitable funds on behalf of the people who live there. Donors give money to it, it invests and administers that money, and it pays the proceeds out to causes in the same area. Miami County Community Foundation, established in 2007 and based in Paola, Kansas, is one of them.
That distinction sounds like paperwork. It is not. Where you send a charitable gift decides who controls how it is spent, how long it keeps working, and whether it survives your own involvement. This page explains the model, then shows exactly what it looks like at one small foundation in eastern Kansas.
What a Community Foundation Does With Your Money
Three things, in order.
- It puts your gift into a fund with a name and a purpose. That might be a fund you set up yourself, a fund somebody else set up years ago, or the foundation’s general fund.
- It holds, invests and administers the money. The foundation carries the recordkeeping, the compliance and the reporting, which is the part most donors do not want and most small nonprofits cannot afford.
- It pays out, locally, inside the purpose the donor set. Scholarships to students at named schools. Contributions to named organizations. Support for specific programs.
The pooling is what makes the model work. A single family cannot practically run a permanent scholarship. A hundred families giving into a hundred separate funds, all administered under one roof, can. It is also why community foundations tend to hold a strange-looking mix of things: a scholarship for cosmetology students sitting next to a fund that pays for children’s bibles sitting next to a restoration project for a town hall.
The IRS classifies Miami County Community Foundation as a publicly supported charity under section 170(b)(1)(A)(vi). In plain terms, that puts it in the same tax category as a hospital foundation or a food bank, and not in the private foundation category, which matters for the comparison below.
Community Foundation, Private Foundation, or a Gift Straight to a Charity?
Most people asking about community foundations are really choosing between three options. They are not ranked. They answer different questions.
| Gift straight to a charity | Fund at a community foundation | Your own private foundation | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What happens to the money | The organization receives it and spends it on its own priorities | It goes into a named fund and is paid out for the purpose that fund was created for | It sits in an entity you control and is granted out by your board |
| Who does the admin | The charity | The foundation | You, or people you pay |
| Ongoing obligations | None for you | None for you | Your own tax return, your own board, a minimum share of assets that must be distributed each year, and an excise tax on investment income |
| Deduction treatment | Public charity rules | Public charity rules | Lower ceilings than a gift to a public charity |
| Realistic starting size | Any amount | Set by the foundation. At Miami County Community Foundation, $1,000 or $10,000 depending on the type | No legal minimum, but the running costs make small ones impractical |
| Best when | You know the organization and you want the money used now | You want the gift tied to a purpose, or to keep working after you stop | You are giving a large sum and want total control of it |
One thing the table cannot tell you: which specific fund structures a particular community foundation offers, and on what terms. That varies from one foundation to the next, and the names used for them are not standardized across the sector. Ask before you assume.
What an Endowment Actually Does to a Gift
This is the mechanic that confuses people most, and it is the reason community foundations exist at all. There are two shapes a fund can take.
- An endowed fund is permanent. The money you put in stays invested and is never spent. Only what it earns is available to give away. At Miami County Community Foundation the endowed minimum is $10,000, and the balance cannot drop below what was contributed. Executive Director Tammy Booe puts it bluntly: “you never, you cannot fall below that amount.”
- An expendable fund is spendable. The minimum is $1,000 and it can be spent all the way down. When the last dollar goes out, the fund closes. Her illustration was a $1,000 fund whose entire balance goes to the Salvation Army, after which “that account would be closed.”
The Foundation applies a 5% spending policy to endowed funds, so a $10,000 endowed fund makes roughly $500 available to give away each year, every year, without the $10,000 ever being touched. That is a smaller check than an expendable fund would write, and it does not stop.
Which one is right depends entirely on what you are trying to do. If a local organization needs a roof replaced this year, an endowment is the wrong tool. If you want a scholarship in someone’s name to still be awarded in thirty years, it is the only tool.
What Giving Through Miami County Community Foundation Looks Like
Nine funds can currently be given to online, through the drop-down on the Foundation’s Donate Now button. They include Shifting Gears, in memory of Regan Johnson; Stomp Out Suicide; the Avelyn SonShine Journey; the Osawatomie Ministerial Association fund; the Miami County Sheriff’s Fund; Teammates of Louisburg; Blue Paws for a Cause; the MICO Youth Leadership Council; and the general Miami County Community Foundation Fund. Others take gifts by check only, among them the D.O. Smith Memorial Scholarship, Summer Blessings of Louisburg, and the Osawatomie Memorial Hall Restoration fund, which supported a renovation the City of Osawatomie confirmed complete in August 2026. The full list of funds held at the Foundation says which route each one takes.
The Foundation charges 2% on a fund: 1% as an administrative fee and 1% as a community support fee, the second of which pays for the Foundation’s own operations. Opening a new fund takes seven to ten business days.
On the paying-out side, eleven scholarships are published, reaching students at Paola, Osawatomie, Louisburg and Prairie View high schools, and almost every one is applied for through the student’s own high-school counselor rather than through the Foundation. Three grant programs run alongside them: the Avelyn SonShine Journey, which gives children’s bibles to churches and youth groups rather than money; Shifting Gears, which pays for suicide-prevention training in public and private schools; and Stomp Out Suicide, which funds suicide-prevention work in public schools across Miami and Linn County. Applications are taken year-round, there is no form to fill in, and a decision usually follows about a month after the Foundation hears from you.
Checks are made payable to Miami County Community Foundation, with the fund name written in the memo line, and mailed to 702 Baptiste Dr, Paola, KS 66071. Never make a check payable to the fund itself.
Four Ways People Give Through a Community Foundation
- Give to a fund that already exists. The fastest route, and the one that needs no conversation. You are adding to work somebody else started.
- Start your own fund. You set the purpose, the foundation writes the agreement and handles everything afterwards. Individuals, families, businesses and churches all hold funds at Miami County Community Foundation.
- Give in memory of, or in honor of, someone. Many of the funds held at the Foundation began after somebody died, which is why the memorial route is so well worn.
- Give later, through your estate. A gift by will or trust, a retirement plan, or a life insurance policy costs you nothing now and can be far larger than anything you would write a check for.
All four, with the mechanics of each, sit on the Foundation’s ways to give page. If you are still at the stage of working out how much of yourself you want to put into this, the wider question of how to give back to your community covers the options that do not involve money at all.
Is a Gift to a Community Foundation Tax Deductible?
Generally yes, on the same federal terms as any gift to a qualified 501(c)(3) public charity, if you itemize. Three things are worth knowing before you plan around it.
First, the deduction ceilings that apply to gifts to public charities are more generous than the ones that apply to gifts to private foundations, which is one practical reason people use a community foundation instead of forming their own. Second, a gift into a fund is a completed gift to the foundation. You can shape the purpose when the fund is created, but you cannot take the money back or redirect it afterwards. Third, you will need a written acknowledgment from the charity for larger gifts, and the Foundation issues one.
Federal rules change and your own situation decides what any of it is worth to you. Talk to your tax advisor before you make a gift you are relying on for a deduction.
A community foundation is often the home for a planned gift, and you choose whether it is restricted or unrestricted. Families directing memorial gifts in lieu of flowers often route them through one as well.
If You Are Deciding Where to Give
Use the simplest thing that works. If you already know the organization and you want the money used this year, give to it directly. If you want the gift attached to a purpose rather than an organization, or you want it still working after you have stopped paying attention to it, that is what a community foundation is built for.
If you are giving in Miami County specifically, two things help. Our guide to Miami County, Kansas covers the towns and the needs behind the funds, and the list of charitable organizations working in Miami County is the shortest route to finding out who is actually doing the work you want to pay for. Call the Foundation on (913) 404-7287 or email info@micocf.org if you want to talk it through before you give anything.
