GIVING
What Are Legacy Gifts
Including a charitable bequest in your will is a simple way to make a lasting gift to your community. When you make this gift through your community foundation, we establish a special fund that benefits the community forever and becomes your personal legacy of giving.
How it works
- You include the community foundation in your will as a bequest; we can help you or your lawyer with recommended language.
- We can work with you to determine the type of fund you would like to establish with your gift.
- Upon your death, we set up a special fund in your name, in the name of your family, or in honour of any person or organization you choose.
- Your charitable gift is eligible for a tax credit for estate tax purposes.
Our professional staff considers your charitable wishes and determines the areas of community need that would benefit the most through 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.
Five great giving options. Choose the one that’s right for you.
Unrestricted Funds. You can use your gift to meet ever-changing community needs – including future needs that often cannot be anticipated at the time your gift is made. We evaluate all aspects of community well-being – arts and culture, education, environment, health and social services, youth, and more. The flexibility of your unrestricted gift makes it possible to respond to the community’s most pressing needs, today and tomorrow.
Field of Interest Funds. You can target your gift to address needs in an important area of community life. The arts. AIDS. Aging. At-risk youth. You identify your personal interest area when making your gift; our board awards grants to community groups and programs that are making a difference in the area you select.
Designated Funds. You can direct your gift to a specific charity or issue area. Help provide ongoing funding for a senior centre, museum, your church, or virtually any nonprofit charitable organization. You identify the recipient you wish to benefit through your gift; our staff manages the annual distribution of funds.
Donor Advised Funds. You can have ongoing involvement in the use of your gift. You work with our professional grantmaking staff, identifying ways to use dollars from your Donor Advised Fund to address the issues and needs you care about most. Your recommendations are submitted to our board for approval; we then distribute grant dollars.
Agency Endowment Funds. An attractive option for local charities that currently manage, or are interested in establishing their own endowment fund. An Agency Endowment Fund through your local community foundation makes it easy and efficient to create and manage a permanent endowment for your organization. You build the fund. We take care of the rest.
Ten reasons people choose community foundations. |
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We are a local organization with deep roots in the community, and part of a nationwide movement whose support we build and share.
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We bring donors to the table as community builders, working closely with them to align their philanthropic vision with the community’s needs.
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We identify long-term needs and opportunities and invest in solutions that let our communities guide their own future.
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We take a broad and inclusive view of what a community is, and provide grants to the widest possible range of organizations and initiatives.
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We provide highly personal and flexible service, accepting a wide variety of assets and offering donors maximum tax advantage.
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We build permanent funds and those that can respond to immediate needs, helping our communities ensure vital futures.
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We multiply the impact of gift dollars by pooling them with other gifts.
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We believe that diversity is strength, so we bring the entire community together to stimulate new ideas, build participation and strengthen community philanthropy.
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We are transparent and reputable stewards of community resources, committed to being accountable, accessible and responsive.
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We build community vitality – the unique and essential spirit that flourishes when people believe their community holds possibilities for everyone.
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| Community means so many things to so many people and the world to us. In all we do, and all we say, we are all for community. We are part of Canada’s community foundation movement, represented by more than 160 community foundations from coast to coast. Community vitality has been our purpose, promise and passion since 1921, when we began connecting donors to community needs and opportunities. Together, we help Canadians invest in building strong and resilient places to live, work and play.
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The gift of a lifetime |
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Irene Hoover and her husband owned a bakery and enjoyed a great deal of success and prominence in their hometown. After her husband passed away two years ago, Irene decided it was time for her to update her will. Part of her plan was to give something back to the community the Hoovers had loved as both residents and business owners. “Not only did Jim and I love our town, but we felt as though we owed it a lot for the success of our business,” says Irene. With the help of her professional advisor, Irene revised her will to include an inheritance for the Hoovers’ university-age niece, with the remainder creating the Hoover Bakery Fund, a Field of Interest Fund designed to support community development efforts. Because it will be endowed, her gift will provide a growing source of community funding for festivals, neighborhood revitalization, publicly accessible artwork, and other community improvements. “I like knowing that when I’m gone, our legacy will be one of helping others strengthen
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