FAQs

Community Foundations are one of the fastest-growing and most dynamic networks dedicated to building and strengthening communities in Canada.  Community Foundations:

• pool the charitable gifts of many donors into permanent, income-earning endowment funds that benefit local communities
• make grants from the earnings of these funds to support a wide range of local initiatives — from health, education and social services to arts and culture and the environment, sports and recreation
• provide leadership to their communities by identifying local issues and by bringing people together from all sectors to address those issues (see About Us)

The Foundation is an organization overseen by a twelve member Board of Directors, comprised of respected citizens from PEI and managed by a small complement of staff. The Board determines policy and provides direction to committees made up of Board members and other volunteer experts from the community. The skills, reputation, credibility and experience of our Board ensures the successful operation of the Foundation.

The foundation was incorporated as a Prince Edward Island charity in 1993 (Charitable Registration #89001190 RP001).

Where does the Foundation get its money (who gives)? Individuals from all walks of life give many types of gifts, including cash, securities, insurance policies, gift by will, annuities, real estate, art work. Donors can choose to support their community broadly or designate a favorite cause or charity. Flexibility is the key. CFPEI provides many services to donors to help them make the most of their charitable gifts. Corporations also make donations to demonstrate their commitment and support for the community. Charities also place their endowment funds with the Foundation to benefit from greater returns on their investments. All donations receive a receipt for income tax purposes.

CFPEI itself is not the object of most donor’s philanthropy, but is the vehicle by which donors can fulfill their charitable objectives. We create endowment funds from donations and use the earnings from endowments and other sources to make grants to charities on PEI. Through our granting programs CFPEI is committed to seeding, nurturing, supporting and strengthening the community. Grants are made only to non-for-profit organizations recognized by the Canada Revenue Agency as registered charities.

Your gift, big or small, can address the community issues you care most about or you can leave it up to CFPEI to decide where your gift can be best used to help Prince Edward Island. You can also establish your own family named fund to honour the family or the memory of a family member, or a company (business) named fund. The first step is to contact us so that you can get more information on fund types and which one(s) best suit your wishes and needs.

Our endowment funds are professionally invested through a fund manager, in diverse portfolios to ensure that they are managed wisely and profitably.

The CFPEI holds an Annual Gala Dinner to assist with operational costs, however, the main source for donations, and thus the major focus, is through building endowments.

• CFPEI investments are permanently endowed. Therefore, the capital is intended to grow and the earnings will be available forever;
• CFPEI itself is not the object of anyone’s philanthropy in the usual sense, but provides the vehicle to fulfill their charitable objectives;
• CFPEI is very flexible and provides many services to help donors realize their charitable objectives. In certain endowments, donors can have as much or as little involvement as they want in how the money is distributed;
• CFPEI can assist people who want to enjoy the tax saving advantages of charitable contributions in a particular year but are not certain which charities they would like to support. They can establish a fund quickly, obtain a tax receipt for the contributed amount, then decide later where to focus their giving from the fund;
• The funds are pooled to generate a greater rate of return on investment. Donors are able to support specific fields of interest or specific organizations or programs, but do not have to do the administration and monitoring as it is done.
• CFPEI will be in existence indefinitely, monitoring the changing needs of the community and making grants where they are most needed.

Grants are made to non-for-profit organizations on Prince Edward Island recognized by the Canada Revenue Agency as registered charities and must directly benefit the citizens of PEI. Under special circumstances, a group that normally would not qualify for funding may arrange a partnering relationship with a registered charity.