Local philanthropists have been able to channel $2 million into charitable causes — more than a half-million dollars of those funds into programs that benefit the local community — through a nonprofit foundation formed to help manage charitable giving.

The Community Foundation of Monmouth County maintains $11 million in net assets for more than 65 charitable funds established by individuals, families and nonprofit agencies within Monmouth County.

The local nonprofit promotes philanthropy and provides donors with efficient management of their charitable giving and the ability to impact local needs, according to Jennifer Anderson, CFMC coordinator.

"The funds are staying here. Even though contributions can be made to any organization in the country, the fact is $500,000 of the total funds managed by the Community Foundation of Monmouth County stayed right here in the county," noted Anderson, Monmouth Beach.

Established in 2001, CFMC is the first regional affiliate of the Community Foundation of New Jersey, which facilitates effective charitable giving by allowing fund holders to make donations to charities of choice.

Based in Morristown, the statewide CFNJ manages more than $100 million in assets held in 650 funds that have distributed more than $50 million to charities throughout the country.

According to Anderson, membership in CFMC provides benefits including the fact that the foundation manages investments, distributions and the paper work involved in charitable giving. Donors don’t need to pay an administrator to manage their private foundations.

In addition, tax filings are handled by the foundation and contributions are not subject to excise taxes like contributions by private foundations.

Plus, donors can choose the type of fund that fits their goals and can make contributions from, and add to, funds at any time.

Assets of individual funds are pooled in a statewide fund that is administered by the CFNJ finance committee. Holders of funds worth $100,000 or more can direct investment of their funds independent of the pooled fund, she said.

"The CFMC is an institution in the community looking to address critical needs," Anderson explained. "What does Monmouth County need to make it a better place to live and what are the issues that philanthropists in this county need to address?"

While the CFMC doesn’t direct donors’ giving, it can play a role by informing them of local issues, she noted.

"It’s at their discretion," she said. "But we like to think we have some influence in that we can educate donors and make them aware of critical needs and new programs being developed to meet them."

Donors can establish funds in amounts as small as $5,000 or as large as several million with the CFMC.

In addition to helping funds support local causes, the foundation has used discretionary funds to offer an endowment program to help stabilize cash flow for nonprofits. The program, which terminated at year-end 2003, provided a grant of $5,000 to organizations that raised $10,000 toward the endowment.

"We had the matching endowment program in place to encourage nonprofits to set aside a reserve fund to ensure their future stability," Anderson explained. "We are left some of these funds at our discretion and we wanted to establish a program to encourage groups to go from hand-to-mouth to stability and success."

Prompted by a state budget crisis that threatened to wipe out arts funding for this year, the Monmouth County Arts Council recently opted to take advantage of the endowment program.

The arts council board raised $10,000 to qualify for the $5,000 grant and establish the endowment.

"The needs in the community are so great, and nonprofits aim to address those needs," said Anderson. "More programs cost more money. This is a way to take care of them and help them be stable and secure so they continue to serve the community. We felt that was a service we could provide by encouraging them to do that."

The program, which was available for five years, has been discontinued in favor of a direct grant program, Anderson said.

In addition to the arts council, some of the local organizations that took advantage of the CFMC program include Prevention First, Oakhurst, Parker Family Clinic, Red Bank, Epiphany House, Asbury Park, Friends of the Parks, Lincroft, and Senior Citizens Action Network, Eatontown.