Werle Park Ribbon-cutting

A grant from the Clarion G. & Irene B. Sternberg Fund to the Werle Park Neighborhood Association provided signage and landscaping enhancements in the neighborhood.

Funds » Unrestricted Funds

Donations made to an Unrestricted Fund enable the Community Foundation's experienced program staff and Board of Directors to do what they do best – assess community needs and respond by awarding grants to nonprofit organizations that undertake our community's most critical work. Unrestricted Funds help your Community Foundation support long-term solutions, respond quickly to urgent needs, and meet ever-changing needs in your local community.

How to Start an Unrestricted Fund

When you establish an Unrestricted Fund, your gift addresses a broad range of local needs – including future needs that often cannot be anticipated at the time your gift is made. The flexibility of your unrestricted gift enables your Community Foundation's program experts to respond to the community's most pressing needs, today and tomorrow.

Women with plates

The Talent Shop received a grant from the Wausau·Marathon County Fund to help reorganize and restructure their operations to become more self-sufficient.

How it works

  • You make an unrestricted gift to your Community Foundation during your lifetime or through a bequest in your will. You can give cash, appreciated stocks, real estate, or other assets.
  • We set up a special fund in your name, in the name of your family or business, or in honor of any person or organization you choose.
  • You receive tax benefits in the year your gift is made.
  • Our professional program staff determines the areas of community need that would be most impacted by grants from your gift.
  • Our board issues grants in the name of the fund you establish (if you prefer, grants can be made anonymously).
  • We handle all the administrative details.
  • Your gift can be placed into an endowment that is invested over time. Earnings from your fund are used to make grants addressing community needs. Your gift – and all future earnings from your gift – is a permanent source of community capital, helping to do good work forever.

Named Unrestricted Funds Administered Within the Community Foundation

  • George L. Geisler Trust Fund 2005
  • James & Susan Lundberg (CGA) Fund 
  • Caroline S. Mark Legacy Fund
  • Orville E. & Geraldine L. Peterson Family Fund 2004
  • Clarion G. & Irene B. Sternberg Fund 2002
  • Marvin & Ruth (Rudie) Schuette Fund
    •  2009     2005

The Wausau•Marathon County Fund

The Wausau•Marathon County Fund, established in 1987, is a flexible resource that enables the Foundation to address our community's most pressing needs in the areas of education, the arts, health and human services, and the preservation of historical, cultural, and natural resources.

The fund is cultivated by generous donors through outright gifts or as part of their wills or estate planning. Donations become a permanent resource for innovative projects and programs that have a lasting and positive impact on life in Wausau and Marathon County.