Community Foundation News
Reshaping the charitable sector
Community foundations have reshaped the charitable sector across Canada
and the effects are being felt in Prince Edward Island. So says Norman
Carruthers, President of the Community Foundation of Prince Edward Island.
Most charitable organizations are focused on the needs of a particular
segment of the community such as health, the local hospital, or the local
arts organization. Community foundations, on the other hand, have a broad
interest in all of the needs of all of the communities across the Island
whether those needs be in the field of health, education, religion,
environment, heritage, arts or any other sector. In accomplishing their
mandate, community foundations support charitable organizations that work
in any and all sectors.
To illustrate the point, under a recent "Challenge Grant", the Foundation
made grants totaling $100,000 to some 50 PEI charitable organizations in
the area of capacity building. In addition, the Foundation offered
scholarships and conducted a number of workshops for the charitable
sector.
Perhaps a greater impact, however, has come from the Foundations ability
to respond to donors. interests in customizing their donations.
Regardless of the charitable interest, community foundations can find ways
to respond. As examples, thanks to the generosity of donors, grants are
now available to improve the first response efforts to medical
emergencies, to purchase books for Island schools, to support literacy and
to provide scholarships for PEI students who wish to study either on or
off the Island. The Souris Fund is another example of our flexibility in
that it provides grants for any charitable purpose in the Souris area; the
establishment of a Living Trust is another.
Increasingly, donors, especially younger donors, want to be involved in
how their charitable donations will be spent; this is consistent with a
community foundation.s style of operation. While granting decisions must
remain with the Foundation, the Foundation welcomes recommendations from
donors as to charitable needs to be addressed. Donors also like the
fact that the Foundation makes grants only to registered charities and
funds can be redirected to similar causes if the original cause becomes no
longer valid.
And donors are amazed that community foundations have such low
administration fees. The administration fee, used to maintain an office
with a part-time office administrator, is one percent of the value of an
endowment annually. Add to this an investment administration fee of less
than one percent, and we feel that we offer the best bargain in town. Low
administrative fees are possible because of the nature of the role we play
in the charitable sector, responsibilities assumed by our volunteer
Directors, the work of volunteers, our office is staffed on a part-time
basis only, and the generous financial contributions by supporters
including Directors
The Foundation News is an informal newsletter edited and published
electronically by, and at the whim of, Don Glendenning. Think of it as a
letter from a friend. Feel free to send it to a friend or otherwise let
me know that you want to be on the mailing list. Address:
don@glendenning.net the foundation
email address is foundation@cfpei.ca.
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