Many business owners small and large-are overwhelmed with requests for donations. Corporate mission statements often promote active support of the community. After all, cleaner, safer, and better-educated communities are good for business. From big to little, corporate leaders often ask, “But how do I manage it all?”

Mike Brennan, a founder of Lighthouse Place Outlet Mall, reflected on how the corporation decided to take advantage of Unity services. He said, “We knew when the business was being sold, the new owners would most likely not be as involved in the community as we had been. We felt it important that the pattern of giving we had established be maintained and yet our management and organization would be disbanded. Without the Unity Foundation to handle all aspects of our donor-advised fund, I don’t know that we  could have continued with our same pattern of giving. In fact, what has happened is that not only do we continue to support various community- based non-profits, but the amounts that we donate today are at least double what we did in our last year of business.”

One of the most efficient and effective options for giving back to your community is to establish a corporate donor advised fund, advised by your company and administered by Unity. Your advantages are considerable.

• You make the recommendations on what grants to make.

• Unity does the work: handles the investments, paperwork, tax reporting, and grantee communications.

• It’s easier and less expensive to maintain than a private foundation.

• Unity can advise and is happy to share the knowledge we’ve learned during over a dozen years, assuring your giving is most effective.

• Your generosity can be communicated publicly or kept confidential, whatever your wish.

Bottom line 

A corporate, donor-advised fund is business at its best.