"The greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate actions of its members." – Coretta Scott King
While they often go unnoticed in the public sphere, Community Foundations quietly strive towards embodying the above quote.
For instance, did you know that Surrey has SurreyCares Community Foundation? Did you also know that they’ve granted over $1.5 million to local charities so far in 2020?
Compassion is a crucial component for a thriving community, and Community Foundations can harness that compassion helping get much needed dollars to charities, especially during tough times.
What really makes the role of Community Foundations special though, is that they get to support some of the most impactful charities around them.
For example, SurreyCares delivered much needed dollars to organizations such as the Cloverdale Community Kitchen, who were delivering meals to seniors, homeless and vulnerable people during the pandemic. They also granted Backpack Buddies, who deliver meals to vulnerable children throughout Surrey.
Full disclosure part one, I am the Chair of the SurreyCares Community Foundation. Full disclosure part two…I absolutely love being able to see the first-hand how a Community Foundation works to support the hardest-working organizations in our city.
So, what else has the SurreyCares Community Foundation been up to this year? We chat with SurreyCares Executive Director Christine Buttkus on the latest episode of The Wealth Wisdom Podcast to learn more about their COVID response, what exactly Community Foundations do, and different ways of getting involved with your Community Foundation.
You can listen to the full podcast here. Or, if you prefer to see our smiling faces, you can watch the video podcast in full as well.
Community Foundation Endowments “allow families to do the fun stuff”
Philanthropically-minded people can sometimes fall for the lure of creating a Private Foundation. While there is a strong legacy element to creating your own Private Foundation, often what I’ve found among clients is that the administrative work behind keeping a P.F. afloat is often too cumbersome.
With a Private Foundation, you have to report to the CRA on a yearly basis, keep up with the administrative work, have a Board of Directors and cover the costs of setting up and maintaining the foundation.
Because of the work involved with running a Private Foundation, people often lose interest in running it over time.
If you’re someone who has the desire to leave a strong legacy by teaching your kids and grandkids about giving back, but you don’t want the headache of a Private Foundation, then a Family Endowment Fund might be right for you.
As I mention in this clip below, it “allows families to do the fun stuff.” 😊
The benefits of Endowment Funds
“[Endowment Funds] allow donors to create a legacy for the community,” said Christine on the podcast.
Endowment Funds include money that people, businesses or organizations have donated with the purpose of becoming permanently invested capital. By doing this, growth and income from the endowment fund can be granted out to charities in our community forever.
Christine talks about the benefits of Endowment Funds a bit more in this clip here.
Other ways of getting involved with your Community Foundation
In the clip below, I talk about two more examples of how businesses, charities and citizens can get involved with their local Community Foundations.
The two types of funds I discuss here are…
Managed Funds: This is a fund taken out by a charitable organization to fund a medium to long term goal. The Community Foundation manages these investments, but the asset ownership is maintained by the charity.
Although the purpose for the money is medium to long term, the charity retains access to the principal and income at any time. A recent example is from a charity that built a facility. They had excess dollars so the board has had the foresight to invest these dollars with us to help fund future improvements and maintenance for 10 and 20+ years down the road.
Flow-Through Funds: These types of funds can be set up by a charity, business, or an individual donor. Flow-Through Funds typically have a shorter life span, say 1-2 years. Money is raised and flow directly to a charity. Most often, flow-through funds are in support of a project. They are also opened when a party receives a lump sum of dollars and needs a tax receipt right away. We then help with setting this up while coordinating distribution to their charities over time.
Next Guest
Some of you may have heard of this next guest. Heck, some of you may have even had the pleasure of meeting him!
One of the founding partners of Sana Family Office, Josh Dyck, will join me on the next episode of The Wealth Wisdom Podcast to have a chat about What a Family Office really is, the story behind Sana Family Office, and why Family Offices go far beyond just managing investments (even if we do a bang-up job of that as well 😊).
For those that don’t know the origin of the name Sana Family Office, it stems from meaning of Assante the Swahili, which is “thank you.” However, the most commonly spoken phrase in Swahili regarding Assante is “Assante Sana,” which means “thank you very much.”
This name represents gratitude towards all of the families and business owners who have chosen our team as their trusted advisory council.
Until next time,
Assante Sana
