Create your own personal or business foundation.
Provident Foundation can help you to help your favourite charities. You can put all your charitable giving in one place with a Provident Donor Advised Fund. It is just like establishing your own charitable foundation, but this is easy – there's no administration and no compliance work from your side. That's all on us. You don't have to apply to CRA for charitable status, incurring time and expense because we've already done that. And at tax time, you may very well only have one receipt to handle even though you may have directed funds to many different charities.
You can give to virtually any charity at any time. Set up your foundation now with an online donation by payPal for as little as $5,000.00 or use our gift form to donate by cheque or make a gift of securities. When you want to give, just let us know using the appropriate form on this page. Remember, if you want us to make the gift to your chosen charity anonymously, we can do that – we understand that there are times when donors don't wish their identity to be known to the charity receiving the gift.
You might want to set up a foundation that will last a lifetime, or you may wish to help a specific charity in the short term, or maybe you simply wish to accumulate money to give the way you want to at year end. Whatever your strategy, Provident offers the flexibility to make your charitable donations as and when you wish.
Provident offers two types of Donor Advised Funds:
Giving Funds - give now, receive your donation receipt immediately and take some time to decide how your gift should be distributed to your favourite charities.
Legacy Funds - set up a fund now that will receive proceeds / bequests from your Estate. You can leave clear intentions about ministries and charities who will benefit from your fund, or it can be managed by anyone you choose. Distributions to your chosen charities can be made in the short or long term.
Register your foundation online. Simply. Now.
To get started, click on register now. Once you have registered, you can log in to customize your personal or business foundation page where you can describe your cause, add pictures, and more.
Ask others to help too.
So you've got your charitable cause in mind and you've registered your Donor Advised Fund foundation. Fundraising has never been easier! Send emails to friends and family asking them to donate to your foundation. When they join using that link, you will be able to track how much has been raised and keep tabs on your progress. And of course they'll get a receipt for their own tax purposes for every gift they make to your foundation.
Add more money to your foundation
» PayPal. You can donate online as part of the registration process using payPal.
» Cheque. You can print out a Gift Form and send it along with a cheque to top up your balance after you have registered.
» Securities. You can use the same Gift Form to make a donation of securities. Remember to give instructions to your broker too.
Work with your advisor
For donations of $25,000 or more, you can have your existing financial advisor manage your donations for you. He or she can invest your donations to grow and build your foundation up over time. Use our Donor Agreement for this option or contact us for more information.
Summary of Advantages:
- Easy Set-up: A Provident Donor Advised Fund can be established by the completion of a 4-page form; no legal professionals required.
- Customization: The donor can name the DAF account whatever they wish; e.g. after a family name, as a memorial to an individual, after an organization, etc.
- No Start-Up Costs: There are no start-up costs for establishing a DAF, unlike creating a private foundation where legal fees, investments fees and accounting fees are just some of the costs.
- No Admin Requirements: All administrative, investment and record keeping services are provided by Provident. No additional tax returns or accounting services are required.
- Confidentiality: A Provident Donor Advised Fund is confidential. The public cannot know how much was given, by whom, or for what purposes.
- Anonymity: Distributions can be made anonymously through a Provident Donor Advised Fund.
- Flexibility: The contribution of appreciated securities to a DAF can easily be distributed to several charities.
- Tax Advantages: A donation receipt will be issued immediately for a gift received, but distributions to charities can be decided upon later, at any time.
Summary of Disadvantages:
- Limited Control: while the advisor to the DAF can advise the foundation of fund distributions, ultimate control remains with Provident and its board of directors, in accordance with charitable law.
- Annual Fees: while they are minimal compared to a variety of other giving vehicles, the foundation will charge for ongoing maintenance and administration. In a typical year, Provident would expect that the returns from investment (always made in accordance with our investment policy) would adequately cover the annual fees and so it is our goal that the net cost of your DAF would be zero to you. Market fluctuations can, however, always negatively impact even conservatively invested funds.
- Irrevocable Giving: Once a contribution has been made it cannot be returned to the original donor.