The Saint John Foundation in New Brunswick, for example, will accept donations of any size into its community, or unrestricted, fund. The Vancouver Foundation has a staff of 17, with an additional 100 or so volunteers. The foundation employs four money management firms, has a board of distinguished community members and even publishes annual reports. All that for operating fees of 0.5 per cent of assets in funds. Now, not every foundation has such a low fee.
Donors turn to community foundations for a variety of reasons.
Like Marvin Lang, they want to establish a fund that will continue giving. They want control over where their money goes, but they want help finding and evaluating charities. They want a reputable organization to oversee their money and its distribution. That's what Jim Vandewater says he found at the Toronto Community Foundation in 1998, when he set up a fund for himself and his wife Mary and their two twenty-something children. Their grants have gone toward homelessness, education and youth.