Giving
Your Fund Options
Give back to the community you cherish. Community Foundation North Okanagan (CFNO) helps you give to your favourite causes by offering you flexible, informed ways to donate so that you can improve the lives of others in your community. Philanthropy is more critical than ever, and with our expertise and investment options, your dollars will have the most impact.
A named fund can be created with a donation and can be customized to meet your personal charitable giving objectives.
Supporting your favourite charities or one of our Focus Areas
Memorializing a loved one, or encouraging a family tradition of charitable giving
Creating a lasting legacy, or providing community support in the short-term
Establishing a scholarship or bursary
Leaving an estate gift to CFNO
Choose between these three fund structures:
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This is our most flexible fund offering. A Donor Advised Fund enables you to establish a charitable fund, receive a donation tax receipt and then recommend grants over time. On a year-to-year basis, you can choose to support your favourite registered Canadian charities or any of Community Foundation North Okanagan’s Focus Areas (noted below).
You also have options for your fund’s long-term planning after your passing. You can advise us to carry out long term support for specific charities, our Smart & Caring Community Fund or one of our Focus Areas.
• A Donor Advised Fund can be created with a gift of $25,000 (or $5,000 to start-up with a pledge to reach the total gift in 5-years).
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Are a great way to support a wide range of community needs as they emerge – now and into the future. Communities are dynamic, and it’s hard to predict the next issue or crisis. Through undesignated funds, we can support charities that address, shape, and adapt to emergent issues. It also allows us to do our best work to fund a wide range of pressing social, cultural, and environmental projects.
• An Undesignated Fund can be created with a gift of $5,000 (or $1,000 to start-up with a pledge to reach the total gift in 5-years).
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A Designated Fund is ideal if you have certainty about what you would like to support and want to secure your wishes with Community Foundation North Okanagan. Through a Designated Fund, you can name specific charities or any of Community Foundation North Okanagan’s Focus Areas (noted below) as your fund’s beneficiaries.
• A Designated Fund can be created with a gift of $10,000 (or $2,000 to start-up with a pledge to reach the total gift in 5-years).
Fund Types:
We work with you to determine the fund structure best suited to your giving objectives and then guide you through selecting one of these fund types.
Focus Area options:
Arts & Culture • Education • Environment
• Health & Recreation • Social Services
Donor Advised Funds
Offer you the flexibility to support the charities and causes you care about most. You can direct grants throughout your lifetime and create a granting plan for the future. More details noted above.
Memorial Funds
Are a way to honour and celebrate the memory of your loved one, by carrying on their spirit through charitable giving. The legacy you create will also provide friends and family with an opportunity for tribute, while helping our community for generations to come.
A Memorial Fund can be established and ready to take donations in just a day or two. It is a permanently endowed fund and you can select the fund structure – Donor Advised Fund, Undesignated, or Designated (noted above).
We understand that it can be difficult to make decisions during a time of grief, and you will not be asked to make a final determination about which charities to support when you establish the fund.
Scholarship Funds
When you establish a scholarship fund, we will work with you to develop award criteria that meet your objectives, which may be a reflection of your hopes and life experience. We will ensure that your donation is soundly invested, and your wishes carried out over the long-term. Through this fund you can support multiple scholarships at numerous institutions.
Smart & Caring Community Funds
Are a flexible way to support ever-changing community needs. You can start a named fund and leave the grantmaking up to our granting committee knowing that applications are thoroughly assessed based on emerging community priorities. When establishing your fund, you have the option to direct a portion of the granting dollars to the Smart & Caring Community Fund and a portion to one of our Focus areas.
Term Endowments – Spend Down Funds
Target a specific cause and donate over a specified period of time. Suitable for donors who want to make an immediate impact or a significant difference over a compressed timeline.
Flex Funds
Are flexible funding for immediate impact. This is a non-endowed fund and is typically used by donors who have already established an endowed fund. This type of fund supports a targeted philanthropic goal by providing emergency or immediate funds, in the short term.
Flex Funds allow donors to set aside funds during the year and grant out those funds by the end of that year. If Endowment Funds are like savings accounts, Flex Funds are like chequing accounts.
Charitable Organization Funds (Agency Funds)
An endowment fund can be a powerful tool for charities that want to plan for the future and provide their donors with another meaningful way to give. Many donors are attracted to the longevity of an endowment fund where the income generated from the capital provides stable funding to the charities they love. In years when donations are down, or government funding is reduced, income from the fund will still arrive.
Funds can be set up by the charity, with a major gift from a special donor or with gifts from a fund-building campaign.
Field of Interest Funds
Many donors like you want to improve our communities and feel the best way to do that is to leave it to the expert community advisors at CFNO. If you want to be a part of helping our communities get the broadest support they need, we can ensure your granting dollars will have the most impact.
All you have to do is select one or more Focus Areas (noted above), and we combine your granting dollars with other like-minded donors and put it to work through a responsive grantmaking process.
We’re here to help.
Questions or concerns? Reach out to us for any additional support.
Leanne Hammond
Executive Director
leanne@cfno.org
250-542-8655
