For decades, the Niverville Health Foundation has been an important part of Niverville’s fabric and the reason so many medical and essential services in the community have come into existence and stayed at the top of their game.
Thanks to annual fundraising efforts, the foundation has been instrumental in raising much of the necessary funds to build and maintain the aging-in-place facilities at the Heritage Centre. As well, the Niverville Fire and EMS teams have for years enjoyed financial assistance provided by the foundation, which has helped them purchase new state-of-the-art equipment.
But this year, the foundation is undergoing some important changes that will ensure its viability long into the future as well as open new opportunities for community groups to benefit from the donations collected.
Beginning in 2020, the foundation will become known as the Community Endowed Foundation Fund (CEFF) and will be operated by a group of volunteer board members representing a variety of community interest groups.
“We have been discussing this coalition for probably two years,” says Libby Hanna, a Niverville resident and community champion who first proposed the idea of developing an endowment fund. “This all came together in time to make the announcement at the Health Foundation banquet on March 6.”
Hanna will sit on the initial advisory committee along with Niverville Health Foundation volunteers Ken Rempel and George Sawatzky, as well as three other community members who have yet to be selected. The committee’s goal will be to review the current Health Foundation charter and make recommendations for oversight and administration of the new foundation.
Generally speaking, foundations operate in one of two ways.
Under one mode of operation, the mode employed by the Niverville Health Foundation until now, administrators collect donations and pay the funds out to designated organizations as requests come in until the collected funds are used up. With this model, the foundation’s ability to provide financial assistance is always dependent on incoming donations.
Endowment funds operate differently. Here, funds collected make up investment capital and become an asset of the foundation. Once invested, the capital generates interest income. Grant monies are paid out solely from the income generated by the investment, allowing the capital investment to continue to grow over time. Donations to the fund then act as a tool, with these donations from individuals continuing to pay out to the community indefinitely.
“That capital money never disappears,” Hanna says. “The money you give grows and the foundation disperses the growth. That foundation then is ever-growing, and the more it grows, the more money the foundation will have coming back to it every year.”
Hanna imagines that both models may still be used by the CEFF as it is established. To build capital for the endowment side of things, the committee will encourage residents to consider bequeathing a portion of their estate or life insurance policy to the fund. Businesses may choose to make end-of-year donations to defer income tax while giving back to the community.
“The endowment fund is starting from the beginning,” Hanna says. “We have a great deal of interest in creating this fund and I believe there will be growth from those looking at tax and estate planning. There are advantages to donating that many people aren’t aware of. It will be the job of the new endowment board to hold events and make the public aware of advantages that are available.”
Hanna anticipates a minimum of a year before the community at large will begin to reap the benefits of the interest garnered by the endowment fund. At that point, the board will advertise to the various community groups who may wish to apply for funding.
“It [can be] for the organizations, small or large, in the community that don’t already have charitable status,” says Hanna. These might include the Scouts, Brownies, sports teams, or school organizations.
Hanna adds that making this financial aid accessible to all local non-profits should help alleviate the need for these organizations to solicit homeowners and businesses for operating funds on an annual basis.
