The Ottawa Citizen
June 23, 2003
Editorials
Fifteen years ago, the Community Foundation of Ottawa was created by volunteers who promised to do good things in the community and carefully manage donations of philanthropists large and small. That promise has been fulfilled.
The Community Foundation is a helping organization, but it's not government. It's private money - some from wealthy people and a lot from ordinary folks - being set aside to finance good works in the community, everything from a laundromat for street people to community theatre to toys and books for children. The emphasis for the foundation is on long-term building: Only the income from designated funds is granted to community organizations each year. The capital remains intact.
The foundation started off very small. There was no massive pile of money left by a tycoon. Rather, it's usually been through smaller steps that the foundation has grown: a few thousand dollars here, a few hundred thousand dollars there. Citizens in Ottawa, in eluding an increasing number of lawyers planning estates and financial planners, are impressed with what the Community Foundation has been able to do - quietly administer philanthropic money at a reasonable cost and with steady, stable investment returns.
Last year, when most personal and pension portfolios lost stomach-churning amounts of money, the Community Foundation actually made a modest return of 1.56 per cent. It has only lost money in one year of the last 15. Philanthropists have given everything from shares in companies to insurance policies, cash, and one gentleman even donated a condominium he was moving from. The assets under management of the foundation have grown to $66 million and the annual grants are now at $3.8 million. Given that baby-boomers are now heading toward retirement years, and thinking about leaving a legacy some day, the foundation could soon be managing a portfolio in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
The gifts that constitute the Community Foundation are a "permanent memorial" for individuals or families. Sometimes the funds are designated to certain organizations or interests, and sometimes the funds are unrestricted. The beneficiary organizations include schools, hospitals and social agencies dealing with everything from addictions to housing.
A playground for the disabled at Brewer Park. Sending a high-school Reach for the Top quiz team to Edmonton for a national tournament. Funding an eating disorders support centre. The things the foundation pays for must make sense to donors. "You've got to touch people's hearts," says Grete Hale, one of the founders of the foundation. "Making a general plea - 'Give' - is not going to work any more," says political scientist Gilles Paquet, a member of the foundation's board. People want to make a difference, but also see that they are making a difference.
The foundation has a huge opportunity over the next 15 years to offer help for projects that create change - projects where individuals and groups have the motivation to move forward to create self-reliance but need a little help. What a splendid gift to our city and our neighbours, one that will last when we are gone.
Ottawa Citizen
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