I recently read in an article in the Future of Good that the Calgary Foundation will be leaving Community Foundations of Canada. The article Calgary Foundation Splits with Community Foundation Network over position on endowments.
In the article journalist Gabe Oatley notes;
In late June, Calgary Foundation’s board of directors voted to immediately withdraw from Community Foundations of Canada (CFC), the membership organization that represents Canada’s 190-odd community foundations.
It was a rare move. Community foundations occasionally leave the organization’s network because of a closure or a merger, but very rarely over philosophical differences.
In an email sent to CFC’s board chairs, and soon after, to community foundations across the country, Calgary’s current and incoming board chair outlined their rationale for the departure. “The reason for this decision is the divergence between CFC’s policies and those of Calgary Foundation related to the role of endowments,” they wrote. “Calgary Foundation’s purpose, reflected in our Articles of Incorporation, is to provide resources to community now and for the future. We are ‘For Community Forever.’
“CFC’s publicly stated position on endowments is significantly misaligned with Calgary Foundation’s purpose and fundamental beliefs.”
It is possible that COVID, increasing needs in communities, and greater awareness of diversity, equity, and inclusion, have resulted in differences between community foundations becoming more clear – some of these issues have probably been around for as long as there have been community foundations.
Here is a link to The Calgary Foundation’s T3010 information on our CharityData.ca website.
What we know is that the Calgary Foundation had assets in 2012 of $408 million and in 2021 assets of over $1 billion. They have seen significant growth. In 2021, during COVID, The Calgary Foundation had revenue of $123 million and spent $76.8 million. In 2021, The Calgary Foundation spent on gifts to qualified donees $66.7 million, $1.2 million on charitable activities, admin of over $7 million, and fundraising expenses of $1.7 million. The foundation is therefore spending around 6.4% of its assets on charitable activities including gifts to qualified donees. Over the last 19 years, they have made grants of over $647 million.
We have written about the April 7, 2022, Federal Budget and the federal government’s very modest increase in the disbursement quota from 3.5% to 5% for assets over $1 million and how that only starts in 2022. We have also provided a submission to Finance calling for a significant increase in the disbursement quota. Unfortunately, we have very little transparency in the charity sector as to how much assets of public and private foundations are actually endowed versus flexible in terms of spending out. Public and private foundations are currently sitting on assets of $130 billion.