(L-R) Jason Stephan, Red Deer-South MLA, Erin Peden, Executive Director, CFCAB. (Submitted)

By Jason Stephan

Letter To The Editor

Op-Ed: Community Foundation of Central Alberta good for Central Alberta

Jun 13, 2024 | 11:47 AM

Do you want to support charitable causes in our community? Do you want to pay less tax to government? If so, your Community Foundation of Central Alberta (“Foundation”) can help!

The name of our Foundation used to be the ‘Red Deer & District Community Foundation’, but at this week’s annual general meeting, the Foundation’s name change to the ‘Community Foundation of Central Alberta’ was announced. That’s a good change – the Foundation serves all of Central Alberta.

The Foundation serves Central Albertans seeking to support their favorite charitable causes. Benefits of our Foundation include:

A. Community Benefits

The Foundation has been serving Central Alberta for 35 years and has many charitable funding options for donors and groups seeking to support charitable causes in Central Alberta. This includes Designated Endowment Funds, Field of Interest Funds, Scholarship Funds, Agency Funds and Flow Through Funds. The Foundation has unique options and pooling of resources that may magnify the results of individuals’ and families’ desires to make charitable gifts into our community.

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B. Flexibility Benefits

The Foundation offers flexibility benefits. Here’s an example.

Some larger donors may wish to give to registered charities outside of Central Alberta and/or want flexibility to make disbursements to different charities over time and/or in tranches. In these circumstances one option the Foundation offers is a “donor advised fund”. Donor advised funds allow individuals or families to set up their own personal charitable fund at the Foundation. Whenever donations are made to their donor advised fund, donors are issued donation tax credits to reduce income taxes. Whether immediate or over time, and perhaps involving other family members, donors can advise the Foundation as to the disbursement of their donor advised funds to donors’ favorite charities. Disbursements can vary over time and to different charities.

For families and individuals wanting to create their own endowment, a donor advised fund with the Foundation is a lower cost, attractive option to a “private foundation” under the Income Tax Act (Canada) (“Act”).

C. Cost Savings Benefits

There are tax rules and legal compliance requirements governing charitable donations. Many families and smaller organizations seeking to support charitable causes lack expertise and infrastructure to manage these important details. The Foundation is a “public foundation” under the Act and leveraging on economies of scale, can provide an intermediary service for these donors and organizations managing tax rules and legal compliance requirements which would otherwise be onerous and inefficient to do individually.

D. Tax Benefits

Alberta has, by far, the most generous charitable donation tax credits in Canada.

For the first $200 in annual charitable donations, Albertans get 75% or $150 in their donation back in charitable tax credits to reduce their income taxes. This supports all Albertans donating to their favorite charities, even in modest amounts!

For annual donations in excess of $200, the charitable donation tax credit is generally 50%. In these cases, 50 cents on the dollar is recoverable through reduced income taxes.

At all levels of charitable giving, Alberta is the best.

Depending on the circumstances there may be unique structuring opportunities to optimize charitable giving. There are also tax rules to prevent abuse. The Foundation has in-house expertise and experience to assist individuals, families and organizations in Central Alberta in their charitable endeavors.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The views expressed above are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of rdnewsNOW or Pattison Media. Column suggestions and letters to the editor can be sent to news@rdnewsNOW.com.

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