Become a Donor

The Community Foundation of Ottawa is a very flexible yet secure philanthropic vehicle that is available to anyone who would like to give something back to the community. Donations are pooled into an ever-growing, permanent endowment fund and only the earnings generated through its investment are distributed in the form of grants. Thus donors can be confident that a gift to the Community Foundation, no matter how small or in what form, is a gift that will continue to give for many years to come — forever, in fact.

How to Give
The Community Foundation offers a full range of planned gift-giving options. Establishing a fund is simple and often provides significant tax benefits. Of course, a donor may always make a contribution to the Community Foundation without establishing a fund.
Please contact Bibi Patel, Vice-President, at 613-236-1616 ext. 226, for more information.

Donate Online
Online donations may now be made directly to funds held by the Community Foundation of Ottawa. Our new online system provides a safe and secure environment through which donors may make a donation. Simply click on the To Donate Now button that appears on the side of each web page. This will open up the online donation system, where you can select a fund from the drop-down menu or search the name of the fund to which you would like to donate. If the fund you’re looking for does not appear, you may enter the fund name in the field below. You will then be prompted through the donation process. Electronic receipts for donations of $20 or more will be provided by email. Donors who make monthly donations will receive a receipt for the full amount at the end of the year.

If you require any assistance with this facility, please contact us at 613-236-1616 x 0 / info@cfo-fco.ca.

Gifts of Securities
To donate securities, please complete this online form describing the securities you wish to donate. In order for us to ensure that your generous gift of securities is received and receipted as quickly as possible, we request that you forward the share transfer form to your investment advisor. Please note that you will need to sign the form, provide the name of the fund to which you are making the gift, and specify whether the gift is endowed or flow-through.

We then ask that your investment advisor contact Margot Sunter, our Director of Finance and Administration at 613-236-1616 ext. 225 directly to notify us of your gift. S/he would then need to fax the forms to all three parties indicated on page one of the document.

Once we have received the form we can follow up with your advisor if there is any delay or question with respect to the receipt of the shares into our account. The value of your gift and receipt is determined as the end-of-day value the day the shares are received into our account.

Donate a Gift of Securities to a Local Charity:

In order to assist donors and local registered charities in facilitating gifts of securities, the Community Foundation has established the “Local Charities Assistance Flow-Through Fund”. Through this fund we are able to receive and receipt gifts of securites and then transfer the funds to any local charities that donors wish to support. This process allows donors to take advantage of the capital gains tax relief for gifts of stock, while alleviating the administrative burden of smaller charities having to establish brokerage accounts in order to accept these types of gifts. The Foundation charges a 2% fee for this service to cover our administrative costs. If you wish to make a gift in this manner, please follow the instructions above under “Gifts of Securities”, and contact Margot Sunter, Director of Finance and Administration, to inform her of your gift.

Donate to an existing Fund through the United Way: It's very easy to donate to your fund, or any other Community Foundation fund, through your United Way contribution. Just please ensure that the name of the fund is highlighted on your pledge form in order to make it clearly identifiable. With the high volume of information that the United Way is processing at this time, it would also be helpful if you advise us of your pledge so that we are able to follow up in case of any confusion. Standard United Way administration fees will be deducted from the gift.

Donation Deadlines

Gifts by Cheque

Cheques must be postmarked no later than December 31. Please make cheques payable to the Community Foundation of Ottawa, specifying the name of the fund in the memo field.

Gifts by Credit Card (via Internet)

Make online gifts before midnight (EST) on December 31.

Gifts of Securities

When making gifts of publicly-listed securities, we recommend having your broker file all forms by December 19th*, as well as notifying us, in order to ensure that final ownership of the securities is transferred to the Foundation by December 31.

*Please check with your broker regarding holiday hours.

Individuals may claim charitable donations of up to 75% of their net income for the year. Donations in excess of the annual claim limit can be carried forward and claimed in any of the five succeeding years.

For more information, please contact Margot Sunter.