Our Value Proposition

The Community Foundation Difference
All donations are pooled into funds and invested together to achieve greater returns at a lower cost. The income generated from these investments forms grants that benefit registered charities and other qualified donees, typically on an annual basis in perpetuity.

Community foundations involve community effort. By contributing to an existing fund, or establishing a new one, you also help each and every other organization, individual or family which has a fund within our structure by helping to reduce our costs.

Flexible, Affordable Giving Options
You may make a donation through an outright gift of cash, a gift of life insurance, stocks, bonds, or other assets. It can be during your lifetime or left to the Foundation in a bequest. Donations may be pledged over a period of time. You can decide what type of fund you want to contribute to and how involved you would like to be on a go-forward basis in the grant-making process. You might even want to start your own fund!

Tax Benefits
In addition to supporting your community, your donation is also tax-deductible. You will receive an official Community Foundation of Nova Scotia donation receipt with all the information necessary for your records and for income tax purposes.

You might also be interested to know there is no tax on the gain of gifts of publicly-listed securities to a public foundation such as ours and a tax receipt is provided for the full value of the securities.

Not convinced? Here are some other advantages of working within our Community Foundation structure:

Commitment to Community
Our view of community issues and priorities is independent and crosses many sectors throughout both rural and urban Nova Scotia. We are committed to keeping wealth within our province so that it can be used to strengthen the common good, improve the quality of life and address the most challenging issues in our local communities.

Broad Perspective
We make effective grants and develop networks in a wide range of sectors. We are well placed to make simple, but often powerful connections between people and organizations in the community.

Simplicity & Service
The Community Foundation of Nova Scotia values and is committed to our donor relationships. Whatever your situation – current year tax planning, a large capital gain, a desire to leave a legacy – we work with you to create a giving plan to help you meet your particular philanthropic goals. Once a plan is in place, we can take care of the paperwork, financial reporting, asset management and grant making. We also look after all regulatory and reporting requirements. We offer competitively priced fund administration that helps donors avoid the complexity and cost of setting up a private foundation.

Investment Expertise
Our funds are invested by some of the country’s top financial advisors. As a result of our prudent investment practices, we receive solid returns at modest costs.

Sophisticated Gift Advice
We are able to accept gifts in the following form:

• Cash
• Real estate
• Life insurance
• Publicly traded securities (stocks, bonds, mutual funds)
• Gifts though wills
• RRSP’s and RRIF’s

We will work with donors and their advisors to ensure donors receive the maximum tax benefits from their gift.

Recognition or Anonymity
Donors have the option of being recognized for their gift, or remaining anonymous. The choice is theirs.

Accountability
The Community Foundation of Nova Scotia is a responsible steward of community resources. We ensure that formal donor agreements are in place. We are compliant with prudent investment rules and Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) reporting and disbursement requirements.