(February 26, 2021) The Charity Report has recently released its new study Community Giving: The Growth and Giving Priorities of Community Foundations.
“Community foundations have existed in Canada for more than 100 years, with The Winnipeg Foundation being established in 1912,” says editor in chief Gail Picco
“They are organized with the local need of the community in mind and, in modern times, are a vehicle for prospective philanthropists to establish donor advised funds and make up an important part of the philanthropic landscape in Canada.”
Community foundations control about half of the DAFs in Canada, have fully vested ownership of the DAFs, but generally follow the advice received from the donor advisors of the DAFs.
Key findings include:
- There are about 168 community foundations in Canada that cumulatively hold about $3.7 billion in gross assets value. Together, they disbursed about 6.5% of their assets in 2018.
- 80% of the their gross asset value is held by 5 community foundations.
- 67% of their gross asset value is held in western Canada.
- Between 2008 and 2018, the gross asset value in the top 5 grew by 212%, while gifts to qualified donees grew by 163%
- In 2018, the top 5 foundations jointly spent 5.93% (182.9 million) of their combined assets on all expenditures
- In 2018, the top 5 foundations jointly spent 4.39% (145.9 million) of their assets on grants to qualified donees
- In 2018, the top 5 jointly issued 165.3 million in charitable tax receipts
In 2020, The Charity Report reported that, “the federal government announced a $350 million investment, the Emergency Community Support Fund (ECSF) to “improve the ability of community organizations to serve vulnerable Canadians during the COVID-19 crisis.” and said the funding would flow through three intermediary organizations—United Way Centraide, the Canadian Red Cross and Community Foundations of Canada—who have “the ability to get funds quickly to community organizations that serve vulnerable populations.”
“With this study, our purpose is to provide basic information about how community foundations operate spend, their granting priorities, their regional role in the charity sector and in broader society,” says Picco.
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