CENTER OF HELP ENDOWMENT FUND: Strength in Education

The Center of Help or Centro de Ayuda (COH) mission is to empower, educate, and connect immigrants with resources to promote self-sufficiency and to advocate for the successful integration of the immigrant community into Anne Arundel County and the surrounding areas. When it came time for Center of Help to consider an endowment, they came to the Community Foundation.

“We have a really great relationship with the Community Foundation, so it was the first place that we thought of when it came to opening an endowment fund,” said COH Executive Director Kirsten Clark. 

Clark explained that The Center of Help Endowment Fund was created to ensure the sustainability of the annual Suzanne Cohen Scholarship Fund at COH, a scholarship given to two high school seniors in the county who are pursuing secondary education degrees or trade school certificates. It was established to carry on Cohen’s legacy of philanthropy in the community.  

“This was a planned gift made in 2019 to the Center of Help by local philanthropist and longtime supporter, Suzanne Cohen. The amount increased with memorial gifts made by those who were close to Suzanne and who supported the Center of Help,” said Clark.  
While the COH board considered other options to hold their funds, CFAAC’s reputation in the community was their deciding factor. “We wanted to make sure that donor’s funds would be well taken care of, that the organization was sustainable, and they could make the best use of our funds,” she said. “We wanted to continue the scholarships for future generations and an endowment fund with CFAAC would make that possible.”  
Kirsten also said that the ease of doing business with CFAAC was a major factor in the decision-making process. “CFAAC was really helpful and explained to us about each type of fund and what ways each of them could benefit the Center of Help,” she said. “Just being able to have those open and transparent conversations was really helpful and important for us because as leaders we wanted to make sure that we were acting in the best interests of the Center of Help. CFAAC was really on top of it, sending us the information that was needed, making sure that everything was easy to understand and read.”

“We are hoping that as we grow, the endowment fund will grow to provide multiple scholarships,” she added. “We want to continue our partnership with the Community Foundation because they are helping us get our name further out there in the community. It’s very beneficial to us to continue to have that exposure.” 

This story was originally published in the 2020 CFAAC Annual Report.

SUPPORT THE CENTER OF HELP ENDOWMENT FUND

Make a Tax-Smart Impact

Many people like you are making tax smart donations with appreciated stocks and bonds, qualified charitable distributions (QCD) from an IRA, or a variety of planned gifts. For more information, please email John@CFAAC.org or call 410-280-1102 ext. 103.

Should you wish to make a non-cash donation, CFAAC accepts gifts of appreciated stock for the benefit of this fund. To initiate this transaction, contact your broker with the number of shares of each security you wish to give. All gifts of stocks and bonds which are “DTC Eligible” can be transferred to CFAAC using the information below:

• Pershing, LLC Depository Trust Company (DTC) #0443 For the credit to: Pershing, LLC #4S2117401
• Account name: The Community Foundation of Anne Arundel County

PLEASE NOTE: Donor names are rarely provided when securities are transferred electronically. To ensure your gift is correctly allocated, please email Kathy@CFAAC.org with the gift amount and the name of the fund your gift will support.