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The Ties Endowment
We’re not building an organization that gasps for breath every year.
The Ties Endowment exists so that Heritage Travel, Healing & Wholeness, and Growth & Learning grants for adult intercountry adoptees don’t depend on any single year’s fundraising ever again.
Why This Exists
The freedom to plan ten years out
Every year, nonprofits like ours go back out and ask again — hoping the campaign lands, hoping the grant comes through, hoping this is the year it all works. We’ve watched what happens when an organization doesn’t have to do that. That’s what an endowment buys: not just money, but the freedom to plan ten years out instead of twelve months out.
A $100,000 founding gift has seeded The Ties Endowment. Our goal is to grow that seed into $5 million over the next five years.
An endowment gift and an annual gift do different jobs — we need both, always. Annual and undesignated gifts fund this year’s grants right now. Endowment gifts make sure there’s still a foundation here to fund them in year twenty.
What This Makes Possible
Grants adoptees can actually plan around
A fully funded endowment means a Heritage Travel grant is available the year an adoptee is finally ready to go back, not just the year we happened to have a good campaign. It means Healing & Wholeness and Growth & Learning grants exist on a schedule adoptees can actually plan around.
Ways to Give Toward the Endowment
Choose what fits your situation
Cash, check, ACH, or wire Available now
The most direct way to add to the endowment — note in the memo/notes field that the gift is intended for the endowment specifically.
Gifts of stock or appreciated securities Available now
Giving appreciated stock directly can let a donor avoid capital-gains tax and deduct the full fair-market value. Contact us for transfer instructions to route the gift correctly.
Bequests and estate gifts Available now
Sample language for a will or trust: “I give [$_____ / _____% of my estate / the residue of my estate] to The Ties Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, EIN 41-5288450, to be used for its endowment fund.” We’re glad to talk through options with you or your estate attorney.
Charitable gift annuities & other planned gifts Coming
We’re actively building this capacity. If a gift annuity or another planned-giving structure is part of your thinking, talk with Ian directly rather than treating this as a self-serve option today.
This information is general in nature and isn’t intended as tax or legal advice. Please consult your own financial, tax, or legal advisor before making a gift.
Do You Know Someone?
A gift that gives year after year
We don’t only want to hear from people who are ready to give. We want to be introduced to the people whose hearts would be full to do it — and we’d be grateful if you asked around, or made a warm introduction.
Someone who might be a wonderful fit:
- Has a philanthropic heart — generous by habit, and thoughtful about where a gift can do the most lasting good.
- Cares about intercountry adoption — because they are adopted, love someone who is, or have simply come to understand what adult adoptees carry and deserve.
- Wants a gift that keeps giving, year after year, rather than one that is spent once and is gone.
- Is moved by support that goes directly to individuals — a journey back to a birth country, counseling and healing, a chance to learn and grow — with life-changing results.
Maybe that’s a friend, a colleague, a family-foundation trustee, a donor-advised-fund holder, or someone thinking about their legacy. You don’t need to make the case for us. Just tell them there’s a conversation waiting, and introduce us.
Let’s Talk
Want to talk about a founding gift, a stock transfer, or including The Ties Foundation in your estate plan?
I’d love to talk it through with you directly. And if you know someone whose heart would be full to give a gift like this, please ask them, or introduce us.
Not ready for this yet? Double your gift in the $10,000 match or start a conversation with us.