About the Foundation
The Hillsboro Community Foundation (HCF) serves to promote and facilitate charitable giving in support of projects and programs that enhance the quality of life in the City of Hillsboro and nearby surrounding areas.
HCF achieves this goal through close and coordinated ties with local city governments; the USD 410 school district; and area charitable organizations. HCF was formed in 2004 with the following objectives:
- to advise and assist donors who could benefit by using HCF to achieve their charitable objectives;
- to receive grants or bequests for the benefit of both specific and broad community charitable interests;
- to make grants from unrestricted community endowment funds to benefit worthy Hillsboro-area charitable, benevolent, cultural, religious, civic, health, scientific and educational purposes;
- to encourage and assist qualified not-for-profit organizations in establishing their own endowments and restricted funds as part of HCF.
What we’re really trying to promote is the concept of giving through the foundation, not to the foundation, the whole thing of trying to stimulate people’s imaginations about what they could do (for the community) that reflects their passion.
Keith Harder (Past HCF Board Chair)
HCF is an affiliate of the Central Kansas Community Foundation which operates as a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization. This allows HCF to receive and manage tax-deductible donor contributions from the community for both long-term and short-term purposes in a tax-advantaged manner.
Funds are established within HCF for specific designated purposes. The types of funds include:
- Endowment Funds – for legacy and long-term sources of philanthropic funds, in which only the investment earnings are distributed each year;
- Project Funds – for the coordination and collection of contributions to large community projects;
- Available/Expendable Funds – for contributions set aside to meet needs as they arise;
- Custodial/Agency Funds – for the administration and investment management of other charitable organizations’ funds.
The purpose of a Fund can be designated to support a very specific recipient, or as a field of interest, which may be either broadly or narrowly defined. Grants are generally issued from the various HCF-held funds on an annual basis.
Sometimes, in addition to local interests, a donor may have a philanthropic interest outside the nearby geographical area. HCF has and will work with donors to meet all of their philanthropic goals whether in the local or broader community.
Central Kansas Community Foundation
HCF receives its nonprofit and tax-exempt charity status as an affiliate of the Central Kansas Community Foundation (CKCF). CKCF is based in Newton, KS and is the host foundation to 19 affiliates in the central Kansas region, supporting rural philanthropy.
As the host and legal entity for the affiliates, CKCF provides administrative, legal, accounting, and investment services for all affiliates. CKCF is accredited with National Standards for U.S. Community Foundations® – the highest standards for philanthropic excellence.