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The Economist and Nonprofit Quarterly recently published articles, mildly critical, on the topic of donor advised funds. A donor advised fund is a gift by an individual to a charitable foundation (typically community foundations, or foundations created by financial institutions) to establish a fund to express the donors personal philanthropy. Money or securities are contributed to an endowment, which is […]

It has been an uplifting experience over the past months to discover how many Ontario arts organizations offer community outreach initiatives intended to enhance the quality of life / wellbeing of older individuals. The range of programs cross all arts disciplines – dance, visual arts, music, theatre – providing access for people who may be

Among the arts organizations supported by the Foundation are theatre and music festivals located outside Toronto and whose programs are summer based. So this summer, I took the opportunity to visit as many as I could, seeing parts of southern Ontario I had never been to. It offers a different view to the ‘Canadian landscape’.

While the mandate of the Ontario Arts Foundation is to invest in perpetuity, i.e. for the very long term, we recognize that arts organizations, like any organization cannot exist in perpetuity based solely on past success. To continue to deliver sustained arts programs, organizations need to adapt and respond to change in their operating environment.

To our minds,  taxing endowment is very short term thinking.  Lately, US media and politicians have called for taxation of the larger endowment funds. As lawmakers look for sources of funds amid declining tax base at the local level, along with rising tuition costs, the presence of large, successful and growing university endowment funds have

At the beginning of each year, the Foundation Board meets to review investment performance and decide on the payout percentage.  This determines the actual income arts organizations holding endowments with the OAF will receive. What does the Board consider in making this decision?   Market GrowthThe majority of endowments we administer are permanent.  The original capital

Canada does not have an annual gathering of arts funders that embraces private, government and public funders similar to Grantmakers in the Arts in the U.S.  Therefore, it is always interesting to monitor the dialogue coming out of the organization’s annual fall conference. At the 2015 meeting, a couple of key themes were tabled that we feel

The Ontario Arts Foundation is committed to the contributing to the success and financial stability of the arts in Ontario. We do this by connecting private donors and the arts through endowments largely established in response to government matching programs. The OAF has invested significant time in the past year to raising the profile of matching

We are sometimes asked by an arts organization why the 2015 income paid from their endowment was 4.5%, when the Foundation earned investment returns of almost 14% for the year. There are two answers to the question:       Our investment policy goal is to earn returns ( interest, dividends, capital gains ) that

I’ve observed a rise in published materials and articles on the intersection between the arts and the areas of aging, healthcare and wellness. The driver may be the “Boomer” generation, who as they retire seek to keep active, learning and finding a place for the arts in their lives. Pre-War GenerationWhen you consider that one of