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A recent report from the U.S. based Council on Foundations on investment returns for community and private foundations in 2018 is an interesting read. We monitor these reports as one way to confirm how the Foundation investment performance compares to similar size foundations. Challenging Year The report articulates how 2018 was a challenging year. On average private […]

Putting Wealth to Work: Philanthropy for Today or Investing for Tomorrow?by Joel L. Fleischman. PublicAffairs. New York, New York, 2017ISBN: 9781610395335     The Philanthropist, a good Canadian journal on philanthropy, recently issued a book review on a book that is worth reading – Putting Wealth to Work: Philanthropy for Today or Investing for Tomorrow? by Joel Fleischmann. The

Much of what we read in the financial press these past few weeks and months speaks of increasing economic volatility and political and market uncertainty. Talk is less about will there be an economic recession, but when will we see the next downturn.   Long-term PerspectiveAt the Ontario Arts Foundation, we continue to hold a long-term

Arts organizations should be encouraged by a small, but easily accessible funding program launched in November by Canadian Heritage. The First Spark Initiative The First Spark Initiative is intended to support arts organizations to focus on innovation in solving common business challenges. An organization can apply for a $5,000 grant to organize a collaborative problem-solving activity

A number of changes have been recently passed by government affecting charitable organizations. Changes worthy of taking note include:     Charities DirectorateAt the federal level, the Charities Directorate, indicates: • It will no longer review, as part of applications for charitable status, ‘draft’ governing documents. Governing documents must be in final form. • Online

There is a debate within the charitable sector focusing around foundations created to exist in perpetuity in contrast to a foundation having a specific life span. Both forms of endowment fund provide donors with the ability to transfer accumulated personal wealth to a foundation to support issues, causes, and organizations important to them. The Philanthropist article Point/Counterpoint: Limited life foundations

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.