D. TYPES OF ENDOWMENT FUNDS, AND WHO DONATES TO THEM

A donor to the Community Foundation of the North Okanagan can either make a gift to the Foundation into an existing open endowment fund, or establish a new fund. The threshold requirement for the establishment of a Fund is $5,000. The Foundation will work with a donor to establish a mutually agreeable time period for the threshold to be in place.

Funds can be earmarked in a number of ways:

• Community Fund This is an unrestricted fund which permits the Foundation to decide where the distributions are to go each year. This allows us to respond to community needs as they change from generation to generation.

• Field of Interest Funds are those where the donor can direct the distributions to a particular area of interest such as mental health, performing arts, children-at-risk, etc.

• Designated Funds are Funds under which the donor has specified one or more charitable organizations to be the perpetual beneficiaries of the annual distributions from the Fund.

• Donor Advised Funds are those where the donor retains the right to advise the Foundation each year which charitable organizations are to benefit from the fund’s distributions. Canada Customs and Revenue Agency’s policy requires that the final decision rest with the Foundation, however, the Foundation will honour the donor’s wishes as long as the recipient organization is recognized as a Qualified Donee by the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency.

• Scholarship Funds are Funds established to provide an annual scholarship(s) to students from the North Okanagan. The donor provides the selection criteria and the Foundation/School selects the recipient(s). The Foundation will manage all aspects of the funding including mailing the scholarship cheque to the educational institution.

• Flow Through Funds are non-permanent funds, established when a donor wishes to keep their gifting simple but wanting some, or in rare cases, all of their gift to go directly to a designated charitable organization(s). This option is not part of our Foundation’s normal policy, however may be considered on a case by case basis.

It is not only individuals who can take advantage of the resources of the Community Foundation of the North Okanagan. For example:

• A charity that wishes to establish its own endowment fund but does not have the resources to fully administer it, may wish to establish an Agency Endowment Fund with the Foundation. Agency Endowment Funds are those where a charitable organization may set up a fund within the Foundation to which their supporters may contribute. The income is distributed back to the charity annually for use in charitable programs.

• A corporation or philanthropic organization that wishes to rationalize its giving program, or reduce the administrative cost of dealing directly with requests for funding, may wish to set up a Donor Advised Fund and use the resources of the Foundation to evaluate requests.

• A family that is considering setting up a Family Foundation may find it quicker, cheaper and less troublesome on an ongoing basis to set up a Named Fund with the Foundation, without sacrificing any of the real benefits of having a Family Foundation. (See Section J: The Community Foundation As An Alternative To A Private Foundation)

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